


Unexpected Encounters

by a_dale



Category: Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Dean's kind of a jerk, Destiel if you squint - Freeform, Klaroline, Klaus loves to threaten people, Multi, Reference to Torture, Sam is really sweet, but heavily implied - Freeform, hinted more than anything, kind of ooc at times, more bark than bite, nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 14:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 23,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1861455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_dale/pseuds/a_dale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On her way to New Orleans to finally see Klaus, Caroline is caught by the king of Hell. It comes to everyones surprise when it isn't her friends that find her, but an old flame from her human days and his brother. But no longer are they just the small town boys passing through but world renown hunters; The Winchesters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Caroline_

 

Caroline couldn't remember ever having been in so much pain in her life. Not when she'd been tortured by her father, or by the werewolves, or by Alaric; not even when she'd had werewolf venom coursing through her veins. None of that compared to the pain she was in now.

“Come now darling, certainly you can tell me more than that.” she felt as if every inch of her skin was on fire, even her hands were staked to the arms of the chair she was trapped in with vervain coated chains. She'd been trapped in this chair for what felt like years; being submitted to every form of torture she'd known existed, and more she'd have been better off not having known about.

“Perhaps you didn't hear me.” there was blinding pain and the moment she screamed it stopped. She forced herself to focus on her torturer, the dark smirking eyes that matched the sardonic curl of his lips, the english accent that drawled at her through her pain, the close cropped hair, clean shaven cheeks and sharp suit covered with a white apron stained with her blood. He wasn't particularly tall and so she met his eyes with little effort, glaring as hard as she could muster. Though her body screamed for release, for an end to the pain, she stubbornly refused to give in, not when what he was asking for was something she would never allow herself to give.

“Now that I have your attention,” he drawled, smirk still firmly in place, “How do you kill an original vampire?” it was a question she'd been asked many times before, and a question she still wouldn't answer. Not because she didn't know, she knew very well, but because she knew the originals and knew the one in particular that her torturer was after. As it so happened, that was the one original whose secrets she would never give up.

“I thought you killed 'the original vampire' already.” she grated instead, her throat raw, the words scraping pain out of the raw nerves there.

“Oh him?” he waved a hand as if it were unimportant. “That species of vampires is weak. They only have a fraction of your speed, your strength, and they aren't nearly as attractive. They also didn't tend to be as loyal. In fact, they don't really seem to hold much loyalty at all. And they have those nasty, needle-like teeth – sort of like miniature leviathans, and those bloody bastards were hard to kill.” there was a pause as he wandered over to the table covered in his torture instruments. “No, I don't much like there kind, would in fact prefer if they died out all together, but you, you're species is fascinating. You didn't come from purgatory, you were made by something far more real than some elusive god.” he was behind her now, the thought of what he might be planning to do making her want to whimper, but she held back, keeping silent. “So, darling. How does one kill an original vampire?”

Caroline just glared.

“You don't. You try and then you get your heart ripped from your chest.” she snapped with her hoarse voice, but rather than be angry, he just rolled his eyes.

“Well then. How about another question. How much do you know about the vampire Nicklaus.”

Her thoughts ran wild with memories of Klaus, as they did every time she was asked about him, but she kept her face expressionless. She knew that he wasn't just a vampire, hadn't been for – was it decades now? but she wouldn't give that away, wouldn't give up his advantage. He was immortal, he was un-killable, but she wouldn't give up anything that could in any way be used against him. She'd left Tyler for him, been chased by that stupid baby hybrid into the clutches of the King of Hell before she could make it to New Orleans, but despite that, despite that he didn't even know she was ready to admit she wanted him as much as he'd always wanted her, and that she didn't know if he even wanted her anymore, she wouldn't say a word about him.

“Cat got your tongue?” the pain came again, and again she screamed, but that was all she would do. She wouldn't beg, and she wouldn't give in. Even if it killed her.

 

***

 

“Hey, Crowley, you son of a bitch. We're here.” Caroline's head shot up at the sound of the deep, gravelly male voice. She was alone in what she'd silently dubbed the room of horrors that she was kept in, but that didn't mean she couldn't hear what went on outside those walls. She was used to the sound of other creatures being tortured, and occasionally even humans, but this, this was new. This was also a voice she recognized. She wracked her brain, wondering who it could possibly be. It wasn't any of her friends, she would've recognized their voices immediately, and it wasn't the voice she secretly ached to hear because he didn't even know she was missing, let alone had been looking for him. It was a voice from an old memory; and then it clicked. She imagined the voice a bit higher, and the face came instantly. Dean Winchester. The boy that had blown into town in an old chevy Impala with his dad and his kid brother, mussed her up in a janitors closet and then blown out of town again. She couldn't help but blush at the human memory, having been so overwhelmed by the ruggedly handsome teenager in her younger human teenage years, but then her thoughts snapped on point. What was he doing _here_? She concentrated on the room next door and realized that besides the king of hell was not only Dean and his steady heartbeat, but another man judging by the scent and the heartbeat. Could it be Dean's kid brother Sam? Or was it his father?

“Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up.” there was a pause, in which Caroline could imagine Crowley and Dean nodding at each other, and then another pause. “Moose.”

She couldn't help herself, she gave a snort of disbelief. Moose? What kind of nickname was that? The instant she made the noise she regretted it as she instantly felt the attention of the three occupants in the other room turned towards the room in which she sat.

“Is that why you called us?” Came a voice that wasn't quite so deep, but she remembered the tone. Yes, it was Sam. What were they doing here?

 

In the next room over, Crowley heaved a sigh, both Winchesters watching him suspiciously.

“What've you got locked up in your little house of horrors this time, asshole?” Dean demanded, and Crowley cocked a brow at him.

“Is that anyway to speak to somebody whose been trying to help you?” Dean scoffed and Sam made a face that showed clearly how much he appreciated any help from Crowley's direction.   
“We don't trust you.” Dean said blatantly, and Crowley chuckled.

“I know. That's why I have my proof through the door right there. You've probably run into a few vampires over the years that aren't quite like the ones your used to, am I right? Elongated incisors instead of those hideous needle-like things, and the dark veins around the eyes?” the brothers exchanged a look and Crowley smirked. “Well, I just so happen to have found one of those very vampires.”

“That's great and all, but what exactly do you need us for?” Sam asked, skeptical as always, and Crowley just shot him a look.

“Well, _Moose_ , I certainly didn't invite you for your charming company.” he sauntered towards the door, reaching for the handle that separated them from his prisoner. “I have it on good authority that she knows how to kill an original of her kind though.” with another shared look, the Winchesters followed him, both skeptical, but both curious. With a knowing smirk, Crowley turned the handle and led them through the door. 


	2. Chapter 2

_Klaus_

 

It was two in the morning and against his better judgement, Klaus found himself propped up on the many pillows in his bed, sketchbook in hand, hand unconsciously sketching out the planes of Caroline's face. She appeared in all of his dreams, haunted every waking moment. Even with the drama that was Hayley and the child, Marcel and the witches, she still managed to sneak into his every thought. It was that very thought he was scowling over when his phone rang, blaring through the silence and shocking him out of his thoughts. Of course, it didn't dispel his foul mood. It'd been over a decade since he'd told her he planned to be her last love, and though that wasn't a particularly long time for a vampire, it grated at his senses to know she could hold such power over him and be seemingly unaffected. He'd thought by allowing Tyler to return, she'd see what the foolish mutt missed that he himself possessed, and yet after a decade she still hadn't appeared, and he was regretting having let the very first hybrid he'd ever created get the very woman he wanted. With this in mind, he snatched up his phone, answering it with a waspish tone.

“What is it that is so pressing you found it appropriate to call me at two in the morning, Stefan?”

“I need your help.” the serious tone and the request had Klaus laughing against his will.

“That much is obvious, mate.” was the amused reply, but Stefan didn't huff in exasperation as he usually would, he didn't make demands, or threats, or bargains, instead, in a steady voice, he said the one thing that could have Klaus' blood running cold.

“Caroline's in trouble.”

“Got herself bitten by her boyfriend again?” Klaus sniped, knowing it was underhanded, and yet half hoping it were true if only because he'd have an excuse to see her again. Of course, that only proved in his mind how hopeless she made him.

“No, I think it might be worse than that.” Klaus was on his feet in an instant, pulling on a shirt and trousers.

“What the bloody hell does that mean?” he growled, and heard Stefan's intake of breath.

“She left him. Broke up with him and packed up her stuff. She was leaving Mystic Falls, Klaus.”

“I don't see how that could possibly be worse than a werewolf bite.” Klaus growled, and Stefan sighed.

“You'd understand if you let me finish.” Klaus bit back a snarky reply and a beat later Stefan continued. “I was supposed to go with her to the airport, but when I arrived at her house I found signs of a struggle and Tyler's stench was everywhere. I followed it of course, but I couldn't find anything except a new scent.” Impatient, Klaus huffed.

“And what scent was that exactly?”

“Sulphur.”

Klaus frowned, knowing sulphur meant demons, but he hadn't come across any in ages. In fact, not since the bloody leviathans had taken over. Of course, when they'd been defeated (by a couple of hunters no less) the demons had slowly begun to return, but not in any worrying numbers.

“So there was a demon. How is that relevant?”

“That depends. How many demons do you know that wear handmade italian shoes, are about 5' 10'', and have a rough english accent?”

Klaus' jaw tensed. Crowley. The self-proclaimed king of hell. Of course, that hell didn't apply to him or his kind, but it didn't mean Crowley wasn't a formidable enemy. He knew he was who Stefan was talking about, and the idea that Caroline was in his clutches made his skin itch.

“Well, that is quite the predicament, but what does that have to do with me?”

“Depends.” was Stefan's retort. “I guess I should mention just why I was driving Caroline to the airport. She'd bought a one way ticket out of Mystic Falls.” there was a pause in which Klaus felt his anticipation as a palpable presence in the room.

“And where, pray tell, would that ticket take her?”

“New Orleans.”

He felt himself relax, felt the smile stretch across his face. She'd been coming, running towards him instead of away.

“I'm on my way. Any word on Tyler's whereabouts?” at that Stefan gave a dark laugh.

“Oh, I've got him, safe and secure in the vault. In fact, I think Elena's keeping him company right now. Though I don't think she's appealing to his humanity.” there was a pause. “Her and Caroline lost Bonnie soon after you left, the idea of losing Caroline too has set her on edge. I think Tyler's feeling just how sharp that edge is.” Klaus couldn't deny that he was impressed with how well Elena had taken to being a vampire after the trouble with the humanity switch at the beginning, but he couldn't say he wasn't pleased that Tyler was feeling the effects of her anger. Elena and her friends were capable of doing anything they set their mind to, and he almost pitied Tyler, but only almost. He knew well enough that the baby hybrid would be lucky to live through the night when he arrived.

“I'm on my way. Make sure he's still alive by the time I get there.” there was a sound of agreement and Klaus hung up, flashing to the door. He allowed himself a momentary smile at the thought that Caroline had been coming to find him, but it was only a brief moment. Right now, she was in trouble, and knowing Crowley, she was undoubtably in severe pain. The thought sent an ache through his chest. He would find her, and he would save her, and then he would destroy the self-proclaimed king for ever laying a finger on her. He smiled again, but this time it was vicious. Caroline was finally going to be his, and he wouldn't let anybody take that away from him.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

_Dean_

 

He walked into the room after Crowley, Sam on his heals, and came face to face with someone he recognized. It didn't take him long to place her face because though they'd both been so much younger she looked barely a few years older than when they'd met. Or dated. Or whatever it was kids called it these days. Caroline Forbes. She'd been sweet, cute, sort of a dumb blonde, and friendly, but most of all, painfully human. Now, as he looked at her, he saw that cute had become sexy, that ditzy blonde trait had switched to a cool intelligence, and that painfully human part of her had shifted, turning into something much more dangerous. The innocence that he remembered having seen in her eyes was replaced by wariness and pain, and Dean had to force himself not to show that he recognized her. He didn't need Crowley knowing that sort of thing, especially since he didn't even know how he felt about it.

“Boys, this is Caroline Forbes, previous resident of Mystic Falls which is apparently a hub for creatures like her.”

“How'd you catch her?”

“Well, a little werewolf chased her my direction. He has a grudge against a certain original vampire and seems to think that Caroline here might know something on how to kill them, and more.” both boys exchanged glances before looking back at Caroline.

“Kill an original huh.” Dean muttered thoughtfully, meeting Caroline's eyes but giving away nothing. She was silent, staring at him, making no move to mention she recognized him, but he could feel it in the weight of her gaze even though it only landed on his for seconds at a time. He could feel her pain, see from the state of her clothes that Crowley hadn't been going easy on her. It made him uneasy, but he didn't know enough to do anything about it. “Well I gotta say, its tempting, seeing as her kind are a lot more dangerous than the usual fangers, and the originals, well hell. They're unbeatable.” he glanced over at Sam who was frowning at Caroline. Hell. He could already see Sam's empathy beginning to surge up at the sight of the tortured girl who looked no older than twenty and less of a monster than everyone else in the room. That made him do a double take. He'd probably been about sixteen when they'd met, she about the same, so that meant she'd been turned not too long after they'd left. He could only wonder who had turned her, and why, and how someone had thought it okay to take the innocence out of her gaze. Ah hell. Now he was as bad as Sam.

“Has she told you anything?” Sam asked, tone clipped, and Crowley shrugged.

“Not yet.”

“Maybe it's because she doesn't know anything.” the irritation in his tone was becoming clearer, and Dean decided to step in. With a hand on Sam's arm, and ignoring Caroline's piercing gaze, he looked at Crowley.

“How long have you had her here?”

“A week.”

“A week of torturing her and she's said nothing.” Sam was nearly grinding his teeth. “That makes it pretty clear to me that she doesn't know anything.”

“You're too trusting moose. She knows more than she's saying, of that I'm sure.”

“Let us talk to her.”

Crowley lifted a brow at Dean's offer. He knew the older hunter was well versed in the ways of torture, but he didn't think he practiced them.

“And give you the chance to set her free? I think not.”

“Set her free?” Dean scoffed. “You know us better than most of the monsters out there, Crowley. How often do we set your kind free?”

there was a moment of tense silence and then Crowley shrugged again.

“Fine by me then I suppose. Give'er a knock when you boys are done.” with that Crowley strutted out the door, closing it behind him with a bang.

Dean immediately looked to Sam who pulled a little device from his pocket, and after the taller brother nodded, Dean looked back to Caroline.

“Hiya blondie.”

“Dean.” she rasped, resisting the urge to flinch at the sound of her own voice, and the tears that threatened when he called her by the nickname she usually only heard from Damon.

“Dean, do you know her?” Sam asked, surprised, and Dean looked back at Sam with a nod.

“Remember Mystic Falls?”

“Yeah, I remember it. Small town few counties over.”

“Caroline was a good friend of mine.” Dean continued, implications heavy, and Caroline watched Sam's eyebrows lift nearly to his hairline.

“Oh.”

Caroline snorted a laugh, unable to help herself at the shocked reaction of the younger brother. Both boys stared at her in surprise and she gave Sam as comforting of a smile as she could manage.

“Don't worry, I was still human back then.”

At that, Dean turned back to her, so many questions forming in his mind.

“How old were you when you were turned?” he asked, and she hesitated, wondering whether or not to answer. Her eyes flickered unwillingly towards the table covered in torture instruments and without further ado Sam pushed it as far from her as possible.

“We aren't going to torture you.” he said, voice dripping with disgust for the demon on the other side of the door. “We just want to know whats going on.”

She looked between them for another second before nodding. She was so hungry, and they were the first humans that had been anywhere near her in a long while, the sound of the blood pumping through their veins making her want to beg for a taste, but she resisted.

“I was turned when I was still in high school.” she said, not really wanting to give them an age. Sometimes it was embarrassing to be so young. The brothers exchanged glances.

“Have you ever killed anyone?” she stiffened, eyes shooting daggers between the two of them.

“Yes. But the only one who died because I couldn't control my impulses was the very first one.” she snapped, eyes molten with anger. “How many have died at your hands?” she retorted, and though Dean glared right back, Sam winced.

“We aren't accusing you of anything.” he paused, “But if you wouldn't mind me asking, why did you kill them?”

“Why do you kill things? Because they threaten you or your loved ones.” as she spoke she never broke Sam's gaze, recognizing a familiar guilt in his eyes. He'd done things he wasn't proud of because he'd thought he'd been doing the right thing. Caroline thought fondly of Bonnie, who had died thinking the very same thing.

“You've been here for a week.” Sam muttered, and Dean watched it all in silence. Any minute now, Sam was going to turn to him with those puppy dog eyes, begging that they save her, and looking at her, he wasn't going to be able to say no. She was so strong, taking the pain Crowley had without a doubt submitted her to, and yet she still held her fire; and her humanity. That wasn't something to look down on. “Have you fed at all?”

Dean's gaze snapped to Caroline's face as Sam asked the question, and Caroline lifted her chin, proud and unyielding.

“No.”

The brothers exchanged glances once more, looking from Caroline, to each other, and back again.

“How is that possible? He must've drained enough blood from you that you should be begging for it. Hell, us being in the room should be driving you batshit.”

Even from her lower position chained to the chair, Caroline managed to look down her nose at Dean.

“Clearly you've never met any vampires with self control.”

Sam chuckled at that, and Dean rubbed a hand over the back of his head, avoiding Sam's eyes in favour for Caroline's. Shit. This was trouble. He looked up at Sam, and as he'd predicted, he was getting the puppy eyes. He rolled his own eyes, and then glanced towards the door.

“How?” he asked, and Sam flashed him a smile before moving towards Caroline.

“How fast can you run?”

“How fast does a bullet fly?” was the smart reply.

“Alright. We're going to get you out of here. Dean's going to open the door and you're going to run. The impalas parked around the block. Meet us there.”

“You're trusting her to actually meet us and not run off?” Dean asked, and Caroline shot him a dirty look.

“Yeah, I am Dean. She's starving and she's going to need to feed. Judging by the fact that she's only killed one human while feeding, she doesn't want to do that again. Ergo, she'll meet us at the car so that we can get her some blood bags from the local hospital and she can take some time to sleep and heal.” surprised by the kindness and practicality in his tone, Caroline felt the tears burning in her eyes but bit them back, she was not going to cry, not yet. When Dean nodded at his brother, accepting his reasoning, Sam gave Caroline an apologetic glance before pulling the stakes from her hands. She whimpered, curling her arms in, but not touching the chains. With Dean painting something on the floor in the doorway, Sam went to work on the chains, only to find a lock at the back.

“You didn't think I'd make it easy for you, did you?” Crowley asked, and both Sam and Caroline's heads shot up at the intrusion. He stepped into the room, and right into the circular symbol Dean had drawn. When he moved to take another step forward, it was as if he'd hit a wall, and he rolled his eyes, heaving an exaggerated sigh. “Really boys, we all know how well these hold me.” even as he spoke the room began to shake, and Caroline looked at Sam.

“Do you have a gun?” he nodded. “Shoot the lock off.” he looked at her in surprise.

“But-”

“Even if you shoot me, it won't kill me. Just do it.” she looked towards the creases in the brick wall behind her that showed there had once been a window there. “How many floors up are we?” She asked as Dean came over, standing between Crowley and them.

“Two.” she nodded, wincing as the bullet Sam used to break the lock skimmed her hip. She was out of the chains in seconds, ignoring how they burned even more of her skin where they touched, and moved towards the window, snatching her daylight ring off the torture table. With the room already shaking from whatever Crowley was doing, it only took a few swift blows for the bricks where the window had been to crumble, and Caroline swung her legs over the edge, revelling in the feel of the cool breeze hitting her skin and the open space of the night sky.

“I'll go first. You jump next.” at their dubious looks she gave a cheeky grin. “Don't worry. I'll catch you.” then she disappeared from view. Sam rushed over, looking out to see Caroline wave at him, and he swung his long limbs through the window next. He gave Dean a dirty look for the smirk he was getting and then jumped. Dean watched Sam disappear and then waited the second until he heard his brothers voice.

“Hurry up Dean!” he looked at Crowley, who only looked mildly irritated.

“You know, I'm not finished with her. I'll get her back and you boys won't be able to do anything about it.”

“Yeah? We'll see about that.” Dean growled, moving towards the window. He tucked the gun away easily, swinging through the window and jumping. As she'd promised, Caroline caught him easily, setting him down almost instantly before he could be embarrassed.

“Come on.” Taking her elbow, he pulled her towards the Impala, and Sam pulled the passenger seat forward so she could slide into the back. She crawled in, laying across it immediately. She was exhausted. In truth, she was surprised she'd been able to take down the wall, and then catch two full grown men. On a normal day, it would be easy, but having not fed in a week and having spent every hour of her capture being tortured without sleep? She could barely keep her eyes open. She heard the doors close and then the engine started and they were pulling away fast, but she couldn't keep up anymore. She fell asleep in seconds. Dean glanced back into the rearview mirror and saw Caroline laying there, still as death, and realized she wasn't even breathing. Before he could freak out, Sam put a hand on his arm, and a finger to his lips.

“They don't actually need to breathe. They don't need air. The blood they drink is already oxygenated.” Dean nodded, accepting his brothers words, but his eyes were still flickering from the road to the blonde in the back seat.

“Hey, Sammy, her hands aren't healed yet.” Sam glanced back at Caroline and realized Dean was right.

“She punched through the wall with her hands like that?” Dean whistled, “That must've hurt like a bitch.” Sam gave a nod of agreement.

“The rest of her injuries have healed, I wonder what's wrong with these ones. And the burns. Why aren't the burns healing?”

“Burns?” Dean glanced back at her in surprise. “Where the hell did those come from?” Sam leaned farther back, looking at the burns that marred Caroline's golden skin.

“The chains. They must've been covered in something.”

“I don't remember smelling anything.” Dean noted, except for blood and sweat, but that was a given. Sam just gave a noncommittal hum, and he realized he was still lost in thought over Caroline's injuries.

“So why do you think she's not healing?” Dean asked, snapping Sam out of his thoughts, and Sam looked over at his brother with a frown.

“Maybe because instead of focusing her energy on healing, she used it to escape.”

“Pretty good use of it I'd say.”

“Yeah, but can vampires get infections? If those don't close soon it could get pretty bad.”

Dean waved away his worries with a hand, eyes back on the road.

“It'll be fine. We'll get a little blood into her and she'll be good as new.” then he paused, wary of the answer he'd get to the next question on his mind.

“Why did you want to save her so much?” Dean asked, and Sam frowned, turning away to look out the window.

“Because from everything Crowley said, she didn't do anything wrong. She was forced into a trap and asked to betray someone she probably cares about. Just like she said; we kill for the people we care about – but Dean,”

“Yeah, you don't have to tell me.” he replied gruffly, because he knew what Sam was going to say. You died for them too.


	4. Chapter 4

_Klaus_

 

It was fair to say that Klaus was livid. He'd arrived in Mystic Falls only to discover that Stefan had not, in fact, called him right after Caroline had gone missing, but the day after, and that had been one day too many that Caroline had been missing.

Now a week had passed, and he was beginning to feel the fear that maybe she couldn't be found. Of course he knew he wouldn't give up until he knew for certain, but there was a certain smugness to Tyler, even as he tortured him, that had him on edge.

Like he had every morning since he'd arrived, Klaus made his way to the prison type room Stefan and Damon kept Tyler in, situated in the basement of the Salvatore manor.

“Good morning, Tyler. Good to see that you're prepared for todays session.” he said pleasantly, smirk in place, and Tyler growled at him, eyes flashing yellow. Klaus just tsked, hand whipping out to smack into Tyler's cheek, snapping his head back painfully.

“So, perhaps today you'll tell me just why you chased Caroline into the arms of the king of hell. I know people say I'm the devil himself, but truth be told, he's actually out there, and you gave Caroline to the current king of his domain while dear old Lucy stews in the cage.” he strode forward so he was close to the young hybrid chained up to the wall, arms above his head, and smiled as he forced eye contact.

“I'm going to release your hands, but you aren't going to run.” he ordered, and watching as Tyler went still with the compulsion. “Instead, you're going to slowly drive your own claws into your chest until you've got your hand around your own heart. Then, if I'm still not satisfied with your answers, you're going to rip your own heart out.” he said it in his smooth, seductive voice, half hoping that Tyler wouldn't answer his questions just so he would die, but the more pragmatic part of him knew that if he could get the proper answers out of the foolish child, he would be one step closer to Caroline, and that was much more important. As he'd promised, he released Tyler's wrists from their shackles, watching as he dropped to the ground, one clawed hand immediately moving to his chest. He gave a shout of pain as the claws began digging in and Klaus smiled. “Now then. Since we've proved that the vervain is out of your system, you've no choice but to answer me. So, why did you chase Caroline into a trap?”

“Because she left me for you.”

“As I'd heard it, she left you ages ago, mate. That means its nothing to do with me.”

“It's _everything_ to do with you.” Tyler growled. “She may have waited a few years to buy the actual ticket, but that's only because the others ran into trouble and she helped like she always does. If it hadn't been for that, she probably would've been on the first plane out.” the thought was a pleasant one, but it wasn't why Klaus was there.

“Do you have any idea what sort of situation you trapped her in? Do you know what Crowley does to his victims? Torture is his trade, and you just handed him a specimen that's not only hard to kill, but is unlikely to bend to his will without a lot of pushes in that direction.”

“Better than having her be with you.”

The fury that swept through him was so raw he was surprised he didn't take Tyler's head off with the next blow, instead just breaking his cheekbone, causing him to howl in pain. His claws had sunk into his chest to the first knuckle, and the blood was trickling down his skin, but Klaus wasn't about to let that up.

“Next question then.” he said softly, reigning in his anger. “Why did he want her?”

“Because he wants to know how to kill an original, and I told him she knew. Turns out he's pretty interested in you, Klaus, because when I mentioned that she knew you, man you should've seen how his eyes lit up. It was almost like it was Christmas.”

Klaus stood, leering down at the hybrid he'd made, on his knees at his feet. No longer wanting to wait for Tyler to finish the work himself, he sped around behind him, plunging his hand into Tyler's back and yanking out again, his heart in his hand. He gave a feral grin as Tyler fell forward, dead.

“Obviously you'd forgotten, mate. I can't be killed.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

_Caroline_

 

The feeling of a hand on her shoulder woke her with a start and she reacted in panic. Without even thinking, she grabbed the hand and flipped, landing on top of Sam where she'd thrown him on the ground, teeth bared, veins around her eyes having gone black. The instant she bared her teeth she was hit with recognition and she shot back across the room, apology already forming, fangs retracting and veins fading.

“I'm sorry. You startled me.” she apologized, and was rewarded with a self deprecating smile on Sam's part, and open mouthed disbelief from Dean.

“No worries. I should've realized you'd be a bit jumpy about being touched.” he reached for the bag that he'd been holding before Caroline had flipped him, and pulled out a blood bag. Before he could even say another word she'd flashed over, faster than their eyes could follow, snatching the bag from his hand and tearing into it. She didn't spill a drop and closed her eyes as the liquid poured down her throat. She gasped in relief as it hit her stomach and she felt the last of her injuries begin to heal. She could feel the brothers eyes on her, knew they were surprised by her healing, and probably startled by the sudden change in her appearance (the veiny thing tended to scare a lot of people) but she was too hungry to care. She dropped the empty blood bag back inside, pulling out another. When she'd drained it and tossed it back in the bag, she smiled.

“Thank you.”

They were both staring at her, and she was suddenly all too aware of the situation. She'd been saved from Crowley, but not by just anyone; the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this wasn't just Sam and Dean, kids from her childhood, this was Sam and Dean _Winchester_. Of course, to most people, that wouldn't mean anything at all, but as a member of the supernatural world? She'd heard of these two hunters. Everyone had. Realizing that maybe agreeing to escape with them wasn't necessarily the best idea, she wrapped her arms around her own waist, realizing then that she was wearing an oversized plaid shirt buttoned up over what she'd been wearing during her capture. She looked in surprise from the shirt to the brothers and watched as Dean shrugged, and Sam gave a sheepish look.

“We thought-” he began, and then at a glance from Dean, rolled his eyes and started again. “I thought you might like to be covered. You fell asleep in the car and I carried you in, and sort of noticed how your clothes weren't really in the best of shape.” Caroline held back her bodies desire to blush and just gave a nod of thanks.

“I appreciate that.” then she glanced towards the bathroom. “Do you think – would you mind-?” she trailed off and it was Dean who caught on this time.

“Go ahead.”

without another word she disappeared into the bathroom, turning on the water. When it was warm, she stripped and stepped under the hot spray. She nearly groaned at the protest her muscles gave before they relaxed under the heat and she watched the blood and sweat trickle down the drain, leaving her skin clean. Of course, the only soap and shampoo belonged to the brothers, and had a very definite woodsy masculine smell, but she would take it over the grimy state she'd been in any day. Of course, that was to be expected since she'd been missing a week. She froze at the thought and suddenly Caroline couldn't breathe. She'd been missing for a week. Had anyone noticed? She shook the pitying thought off but that didn't shake the panic. Of course someone had noticed. Stefan would have known the next day since he was supposed to drive her to the airport, so he would be looking for her, which meant Elena and Damon as well, but a week had already gone by. How far could Crowley have taken her? Sam had made comment about how they were only a few counties over, but that meant little. Were her friends close? Or had Tyler managed to take them off her trail? The thought of her ex boyfriend had her rage bubbling. He'd betrayed her. She'd given up so much for him, and in the end, when she needed to part ways and move on, he betrayed her. He was a vindictive child, and if he was still alive when she made it home, she was going to tear his throat out. Because she would be getting home, she had to. She couldn't imagine what would happen to her if she didn't, wouldn't dare think about it. And that thought had her spiralling again. Maybe her friends couldn't find her because Crowley had done something to her during one of his many torture sessions to make sure she couldn't be found. If that was the case, she'd just have to find them, but the idea of going out alone, when Crowley was surely looking for her, made her uneasy. She turned off the shower and though it pained her, dressed back into her clothes, the button up over top. Sam had been right, she was glad for the coverage. It was nearly a dress on her, and it was warm and smelled comfortingly like the taller man. Of course, she wouldn't admit out loud that his scent was comforting, but there was no harm in admitting it to herself. She stepped out of the bathroom to see Dean sprawled out on one of the double beds, TV remote in his hand, and Sam at the small table, busy on his computer. They both looked up when she came back in and she shifted her weight from foot to foot, realizing now that she had no shoes.

“Thank you, for helping me escape, but I really should, you know, get going. Find my friends. They're probably looking for me.” she watched as the brothers exchanged glances, and bit back the urge to narrow her eyes.

“Now?” Sam asked, and she shrugged.

“Good a time as any.”

“You can't leave now.” Dean stated, tone firm, and her eyes snapped to his face, panic skittering over her skin. Did they mean to keep her prisoner? Was that their intention? To save her only to try and get the information out of her themselves?

“Hey, we aren't going to hurt you. If we wanted you hurt we would've left you with Crowley.” Sam assured, but she knew she still looked skeptical because Dean cut in.

“It's fine if you wanna run off on your own, blondie, I mean we know you've definitely got the strength and speed to make a go on your own. But it's safer if we stick together. If you just want to tell us who you're looking for, we can get a move on first thing in the morning. But I'd like a few hours of shuteye if that's alright with you.” he glared at her as if daring her to deny him his sleep, but she was relieved enough to be offered the help that she didn't bother arguing.

“I could give you names but you probably wouldn't know them.” she said with a shrug, “But what if we just went to Mystic Falls?” Dean made an ugly noise of disbelief only to have Sam shoot him a glare.

“Assuming your friends haven't left to look for you, going back to Mystic Falls is the first thing Crowley would expect you to do. If you do that you'll be falling right into his hands.” she shuddered at the thought and then realized what she'd done when she found both men staring at her. She gave a huff.

“Fine, no Mystic Falls,” she agreed, then with a pointed glance, “Yet.” Dean rolled his eyes but Sam nodded, though he looked decidedly uncomfortable with the idea. “But I would like to get some new clothes in the morning, so maybe we could take a trip to a mall or at least an outlet store of some kind. I don't mind borrowing shirts for now, but I really need some pants et cetera.” she said with a wave of her hand, knowing she didn't have to go into detail. Dean groaned at the thought, but again Sam nodded. Since that was dealt with, Caroline went and climbed into the other bed, grabbing the duffle bag of blood and bringing it with her. She pulled out another blood bag, ripping off the end and sipping it as she watched whatever show Dean flipped too, and when she was finished, she crawled under the covers. In seconds, she was asleep, comfortable with the knowledge that she had two fully trained hunters watching out for her.


	6. Chapter 6

_Dean_

 

Dean watched Caroline wake up without bothering to hide his curiosity. She looked just like a normal human, yawning and stretching, hair mussed up, eyes half hooded with sleep. She not only appeared human, but she was drop dead gorgeous. Of course, she technically was already semi dead depending on who you asked, but she sure didn't look it, not even in sleep (though the not breathing sometimes thing kinda freaked him out). She caught sight of him then, looking around in Sam's now rumpled shirt, and he wondered idly what she'd look like in his own rumpled shirt before shaking the thought from his head. Now was not the time to be remembering old flames. Especially when there was a certain angel who'd been circling his thoughts as of late. Again he shook the thought off, nodding towards the curtain.

“Sam was worried about letting the sunlight in, said something about how it would light you up like a candle so we decided to keep it shut tight.”

“Probably a good idea if I were a normal vampire.” she said with a sage nod, though her lips curled up into a teasing smile. God damn, he'd never met such a hot vampire before. Without even waiting a beat, she flashed out of bed and Dean found the door open beside him and Caroline standing in the doorway, light spilling over her, and hell, in that moment she looked as much like an angel as Cas had when he'd first shown up all those years before. She was smiling, he realized, eyes closed as she soaked up the sun. “You know,” she murmured, breaking the silence, voice soft. “I was actually afraid that I'd never see the sun again when he had me locked up in that room.” she admitted, smile still on her face, except now her bright eyes were turned on him, smiling at him in gratitude. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't just a smile that covered the surface but that lit her whole face up, beaming at him as if he was some sort of god damned hero. Of course, how could he regret saving her when that was how she thanked him?

“So what makes you so special that you can walk in the sunlight?” he asked, voice gruff as he sidled around the awkward talk about feelings and gratitude. He watched her hesitate but then she was lifting her hand, showing off the ring on it.

“It's a daylight ring. Spelled by a witch to make it so I can walk in the day.”

Dean whistled. “Pretty handy rock you got there.”

Caroline grinned at him.

“Got that right. My best friend made it for me.” Dean raised an eyebrow but didn't push the subject. Vampires and witches being best friends, he supposed he'd heard weirder.

“Where's Sam?” Caroline asked, leaning against the doorframe, and Dean waved in the vague direction of the outside world.

“Getting supplies. Should be back any minute.” she nodded, crossing her arms in front of her, the action hiking up the plaid shirt to reveal the pale golden tone of her thighs.

“Just what were you wearing when Crowley caught you?” he couldn't help but ask, and though Caroline lifted a superior brow, she answered.

“A cute little black dress. My mom and I went out for dinner and it was when I got home and she left for work that I ran into Tyler.” she said the name with such venom that it wasn't hard to deduce that he was the werewolf that had chased her to Crowley.

“What were you doing with a werewolf?” Dean asked, and Caroline gave a self deprecating laugh.

“He's my ex-boyfriend.” Dean gaped at her and she scowled. “What?” she demanded, and he burst out laughing, causing her to narrow her eyes.

“You dated a werewolf. A vampire and a werewolf.” he laughed again and Caroline continued to scowl.

“What freakish circumstances made that happen?”

“Well in his case, he was born with the gene and it kicked in when he accidentally killed a girl from school. I helped him clean up the mess and he realized I might not be normal. Of course, I totally kicked his ass when he tried to confront me about it, but I finally ended up telling him, and I just sorta helped him through his first full moon and so on. From there, we just sort of got closer until all of a sudden we were dating.” then everything changed the second Klaus came into town, but of course she didn't need to tell Dean that. No, she would be keeping her relationship with the big bad hybrid a secret until she was absolutely positive she could trust the brothers.

“What ended it?” Dean asked, and he was no longer laughing.

“I left him a while ago, but stayed in town to help out with some supernatural trouble my friends had run into. I think that made him think he had a chance. But when it all passed, I packed up my stuff. I was supposed to leave the day after he chased me out of town.”

“Vindictive son of a bitch, wasn't he?”

Caroline let out a dry laugh, Crowley's torture coming full front in her thoughts. She wondered if Tyler had known just what Crowley would be like, and if he'd hoped she would die rather than be with Klaus. The thought had a shudder running through her.

“If he's still alive when I get back I'm going to kill him.” she said matter-of-factly, and Dean's eyebrows winged up, mouth opening and shutting twice before he spoke.

“Well-”

“This isn't the first time he's nearly gotten me killed. It's just the first time he meant to do it. I don't ever plan on letting him do this again.”

Dean bowed his head in acceptance, understanding where the statement was coming from. He couldn't imagine being betrayed by someone you'd loved and trusted like that.

“So where do you want to go? Since you can't go back to Mystic Falls just yet?”

“I want to get in contact with my friends.” she said, and looked at Dean curiously. “Do you have a cellphone?”

Dean looked at her dubiously.

“No offence blondie but if you're going to call someone it's going to be on speaker. We don't need you giving away our position by accident.” she stared at him a minute, expression blank before she nodded.

“Fine.” he pulled out his phone but didn't hand it to her, instead looking at her expectantly. With a huff she rattled off a phone number and Dean watched as she grew more and more anxious the longer the phone rang. When the phone was answered by a pleasant but curious female voice, he watched her relax completely another smile filling her features.

“Elena, it's me.”


	7. Chapter 7

_Klaus_

 

Klaus buried Tyler where nobody would ever find the body, and was just entering the Salvatore mansion once more when he heard Elena answer the phone.

“Hello?” she greeted, water running and making it clear that the phone would be on speaker as her hands were occupied.

“Elena, it's me.” Klaus went absolutely still for a moment and then flashed to the kitchen even as Elena's voice went shrill with surprise.

“Caroline! Where are you! We've been looking everywhere for you! Stefan thought you'd been kidnapped by someone who claims to be the King of Hell, whatever that means, and that Tyler ran you into him, the low life bastard.” Klaus stood in the doorway, and Elena looked up at him, breaking off and waiting for Caroline to respond. When she didn't, Elena piped up again. “Caroline? Where are you? Are you safe?” Klaus could taste Elena's worry and it only acted as a fuel for his own.

“I'm safe.” she said, but the words were bitten off as if she wasn't allowed to say more. The thought made Klaus angrier but he didn't speak yet and Elena looked between him and the phone before speaking again.

“Were you actually kidnapped by the King of Hell or whatever that means?”

“I can tell you he isn't nicknamed that for his shining personality.” Was Caroline's reply but it was pained, proving just how much Crowley had hurt her and it tore a low growl from Klaus' throat. Elena looked up in alarm but he was still staring at the phone.

“Care, why won't you tell me where you are?” they both practically heard her swallow before she spoke.

“It isn't safe. I-” she broke off for a second. “I escaped. He didn't let me go. He's looking for me.” there was fear there now, just a taste of it, and it made Klaus want to run to her and wrap her up in his arms, killing anybody who dare approach her, but of course he knew he couldn't do that yet. He had a sudden thought that her clipped answers were due to something more than just being in hiding and he reached for the pad of paper on the kitchen counter, grabbing a pen as well. He scribbled on it and turned it towards Elena, who frowned but nodded.

“How did you escape, Care? Are you alone?” there was a moment of blaring silence during which Klaus realized she wasn't alone and it became all too obvious why she sounded a little bit distant – it was because she wasn't actually by the phone which meant it didn't belong to her and somebody else was in the room with her.

“No, I'm not alone.” she finally replied after a pregnant pause. “I got help from – well you're never going to believe this – a pair of hunters.” Elena and Klaus exchanged looks of alarm, and in the back of his mind he found it amusing how well they were getting along considering how many times he'd tried to kill her, but he brushed that aside.

“Hunters, Care?” Elena asked, not hiding her skepticism, and on the other end of the line Caroline paused again. They heard her give a huff of annoyance before she spoke again.

“Yeah, hunters. Who apparently want to remain anonymous while they decide that I can't come back to Mystic Falls because it's too dangerous but who incidentally couldn't have escaped without me either.” her words clearly weren't aimed at Elena and there was a gruff sound of annoyance on the other end of the line. A very male sound of annoyance.

“Caroli-” the male voice grew muffled and they realized the mouthpiece was covered, presumably to hide the conversation from those on the other end of the line. They both drew closer to the phone, frowning, and caught Caroline's voice, seething with anger.

“Seriously? I swear to god-”

“Bite me, sweetheart.” Klaus stiffened at the pet name and Elena, without even thinking, reached out a hand of comfort. Both of them looked at her hand on his arm in surprise, but neither of them moved, both turning back to the phone instead.

“Don't tempt me, Dean. I've already agreed to your stupid road trip plan since you don't want me going home, the least you can do is let me actually talk to them. Or at least go and be emotionally unstable by myself.”

“Give me the daylight ring and I'll give you the phone.”

Elena's hand on Klaus' arm tightened.

“How do they know about the daylight ring?” she hissed, and Klaus shrugged.

“Perhaps she had to make a point of getting it back, drawing obvious importance to it. Knowing hunters, they wouldn't likely allow her to keep it without any questions.” they both looked down at the phone as they heard Caroline give an angry snarl.

“Fine. Leave it on speaker.” she snapped, and then the hand was removed and the voices were brought back in full relief.

“Alright so I'm not allowed to tell you who the hunters are, where we are, or anything really other than that I'm alive and kicking at the moment.” there was a snort of what could only be laughter followed by another snarl from Caroline.

“What if we met you somewhere though? I mean I understand you not travelling on your own to come to us, but if we all came to get you, you'd be perfectly safe. Kl-”

“Elena remember graduation?” Caroline cut Elena off before she could even say Klaus' name and they both stared at the device in shock.

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“Well remember how I wanted a mini-fridge and ended up getting a lame ass boyfriend?” Klaus grabbed the notebook again and his hand flew across the paper. 'I allowed Tyler to return when she asked for a mini-fridge.' he wrote, and though Elena rolled her eyes, she knew that Caroline's roundabout words meant she didn't want Klaus' name said out loud.

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“Well. Remind me to never make that mistake again. A vampire should never date a werewolf. All that fur and bone breaking. Yikes.” seeing the baby vampire's frown, Klaus leaned in to whisper the answer in her ear, having already come to the conclusion Caroline wanted them to reach.

“She doesn't want the hunter knowing about hybrids.” he murmured, and Elena's eyes widened in surprise, nodding once.

“Right, no more werewolves.” Elena replied somewhat cheerfully, though it was clearly forced, and Klaus stared at the phone. Why didn't she want that little fact known? His first thought was that she was trying to protect him, but he didn't need protection from anything. He reached for the paper again. Scribbling on it again before once more turning it towards Caroline. “Hey, Care?” she asked softly, “What did Crowley want from you?”

The answer was immediate.

“He wanted to know how to kill an original. Apparently there's a particular one he wants dead. I think his name was Niklaus Mikaelson.” Klaus went completely still and Elena frowned at him before speaking.

“Niklaus? Old name. Why would he think you knew anything about him?” Elena asked, as if she didn't already know the answer, and Caroline's voice was tight when she answered.

“The werewolf told him I might know something.”

“But you don't, I mean, how many people could've met the originals?” Elena said, still playing dumb, and Caroline played along easily making it clear that this had been her desire all along.

“That's what I told Crowley. Apparently though constant torture wasn't enough to prove I didn't know anything. And that's why I can't tell you where I am. I don't want him to find me again, Elena.” and there was the weakness, there was the fear. Before he could think about what he was doing, Klaus grabbed the phone.

“I know you're listening, Dean Winchester.” It had only taken him a minute to put the pieces together and realize just who this hunter was. “I want Caroline back, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Now, either you will give me a way to get to her or I will hunt you down, and don't think for a moment I don't know your weakness. Blue eyes, black hair-”

“How bout this, you son of a bitch, if you even think about trying to hunt us down, I'll hand her right back to Crowley.”

“And if you entertain that thought for even another second I will pluck each and every feather from his back individually.” the sound of a fight broke out suddenly the phone was tossed, the line going dead. Without a moments hesitation he handed Elena back her phone, pulling out his own.

“Damon, Stefan. Get the car ready. We're going on a road trip.” he ordered, having noticed that the brothers had appeared to listen to the conversation almost directly after he had.

“And what are you going to do?” Damon snarked in reply, and Klaus brought his phone to his ear.

“I'm getting us a witch. Elena?” he turned to ask, but she had already left and returned, holding onto the necklace that Caroline usually wore around her neck. Klaus recognized it instantly and looked at it curiously, and Elena shrugged.

“She'd taken it off for her dinner date with her mom. Something about looking sophisticated. She left it here, cause she'd been staying here lately since Tyler doesn't like the Salvatore's at the moment and well, he chased her off before she could put it back on.”

Klaus just nodded, turning to speak to the witch who'd answered the phone.

“Yes, hello Lara. I need a favour. A locator spell.”


	8. Chapter 8

_Dean_ / _Caroline_

 

The phone crashed into the wall and Dean glared daggers at Caroline.

“Who the hell was that?” he demanded, and she snarled.

“A friend.” she was working hard to keep her fangs back in her anger, but it was a difficult fight.

“A friend? That sounded like more than a friend.” Dean growled back. “Who was he?”

“It was Damon!” she shouted, the lie sleeping past her lips easier than she expected. She'd felt the thrill of hearing Klaus' voice, demanding her return to  _him_ . She'd nearly forgotten how possessive he was, but she didn't mind in the slightest. Of course, knowing that he was coming for her didn't make her suddenly decide to divulge the information she'd already planned on keeping secret. 

“And why is he so set on getting you back?”

“Seriously?” she demanded. “What's with the interrogation? He's one of my best friends. He's one of the ones who would've noticed I was missing. He's one of the vampires who helped me transition.” though that wasn't strictly true, there was no harm in lying at this point.

Dean just stared at her, making it clear how skeptical he was of her. It seemed he believed her enough though because he settled back with a sigh and another glare at the now broken phone. Standing, he went to collect the sim card, moving to one of the duffel bags in the corner and pulling out a new phone. Without even a thought he slid the sim card in, making the phone pretty much an exact replica of the old one.

“Do you guys always carry around extras?” Dean just shot her a look and she shrugged, mind still reeling from the conversation.

“I don't know why you're so angry with me. If you didn't want me to talk to them, why did you let me call?”

“Curiosity got the better of me. Won't happen again, that's for damn sure.”

Caroline bristled at that.

“You can't just keep me cut off from the world! That isn't how this works! I agreed to come with you because it was safer, not so you could treat me like a child and keep me on lockdown.” They stood there glaring at each other and it was at that moment that Sam walked in.

“Hey, what's going on here?” he asked, moving to stand between them. Caroline shot Dean another nasty look around the taller brother.

“He threatened to give me back to Crowley.” she hissed, and Sam's head snapped around to look at his brother in disbelief.

“Dean!” he shouted in reprimand, and the older hunter threw up his hands.

“Hey! That's out of context! She called one of her little vamp friends and some guy came on threatening that if we didn't give her back to them he'd come after us.”

“So?” Sam argued, “Of course he did. She's his friend, maybe even family. How many people have you threatened when I've been in trouble.” Dean just glared, unhappy with the argument.

“He threatened to hurt Cas.” Dean said quietly, but it was clear from his tone that this low tone didn't mean he wasn't still furious. At that, Sam raised a brow.

“Who is this Cas person? Is it your girlfriend? Because seriously everything I've heard makes me think you're married.”

Dean practically choked but Sam burst out laughing.

“Cas is short for Castiel. He's an angel and a good friend of ours.” he emphasized the 'good' with a slide of his gaze in Dean's direction that Caroline understood easily.

“So Damon threatening your boyfriend when he thought I wasn't safe made it appropriate to threaten to send me back to Crowley?” she was shaking with rage, but also fear. The threat in Dean's voice had been so  _real_ she couldn't help the fear and she resented that. 

“We aren't going to give you back to Crowley, Caroline. I promise.” Sam said gently, but Caroline was still shaking.

“I won't go back. I won't let you take me back. No matter what macho issue the two of you have with having to out threaten the other. I. Will. Not. Go. Back.”

Sam was nodding in agreement but Dean was just staring at her, as if he couldn't believe how worked up she'd gotten.

“Hey, hey, Caroline.” Sam moved to stand right in front of her, big hands gentle as they took her shoulders in their grip. “Crowley won't be getting anywhere near you. I promise. And no matter what Dean says, he won't let it happen either. Will you Dean?” there was a pointed glare over Sam's shoulder at Dean and Dean huffed a sigh.

“No. I won't. But if your little boyfriend Damon shows up, I won't hesitate to show him the dangerous end of my pistol.”

“Don't be disgusting. Damon's dating my best friend.” she snapped, and Dean gave a look of mock surprise.

“Oh really, sounds to me like he's got a little too much interest in you to be dating your friends.” Sam gave Dean a pointed bitch face but then looked back at Caroline who had relaxed under his hands.

“Alright?” she sighed but nodded.

“Can we go shopping now?” Sam grinned even as Dean gave a snort of disbelief.

“Well it's still day, but judging by the way the door was open, I'm guessing that isn't an issue?”

Before Caroline could answer, Dean cut in.

“She's got some weird daylight ring spelled by a witchy friend of hers.”

Caroline shot him a withering glance which he replied to with a glare of his own. With another bitch face at his brother, Sam gently guided Caroline out of the motel room, but not before she stuck her tongue out at Dean, a childish but oddly satisfying action. Dean looked offended but before he could respond Sam snorted and pushed Caroline out of the room, motioning her towards the impala. She slid into the passenger seat, watching as Sam climbed behind the wheel. When they'd just pulled out of the motel parking lot and she'd taken in the surroundings in a nervous habit, she looked over at Sam.

“Aren't you afraid?”

He looked over at her in surprise.

“Of?”

“Crowley. Finding us.”

Sam shrugged, glancing back towards the road.

“Not really. We've been dealing with him for years. You aren't the first thing he's wanted that we've taken, or not allowed him to have in the first place.”

“But he doesn't seem the type to give up.”

“He's not. But as a general rule, neither are we.” he glanced back at her again. “You know, no matter what Dean said-”

“I know, you won't intentionally hand me over.” but that didn't soothe her worry and when Sam glanced back over she had her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

“What's wrong?”

she glanced back over, not knowing whether or not she should or even could voice her concerns.

“I know you said I could leave if I wanted, but the way Dean acted today made it seem like I had no choice but to stay.” she stared at Sam resolutely. “And he wouldn't let me give my friends any clues. Not even a hint. They were willing to come get me but he just-” she was getting angry again and Sam just chuckled.

“He's a real hard case, but to be completely honest he probably thinks you're safer this way.”

Caroline crossed her arms across her chest, giving a huff.

“He has a weird way of showing it.”

Again Sam just laughed, pulling into a mall parking lot.

“Come on, lets buy you some clothes.” at his offer, Caroline chuckled.

“Buy clothes?” she chuckled again. “Come on, Sammy, I'll show you how a real vampire deals with this.” she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the mall, steering straight towards the first store she saw and grinning when it was an  _anthropology,_ dragging Sam inside. Looking thoroughly out of place in his plaid shirt, worn jeans, and work boots, Caroline caught sight of herself in a mirror and grimaced. Compared to herself, Sam looked dashing. At vamp speed she rushed the shelves, finding jeans, a cute blouse, and a leather jacket. She didn't usually go for the whole leather look, but it seemed that all her leather jacket wearing friends managed to keep the same jacket through multiple fights, and that seemed pretty useful to her. With only a quick glance around the store she also grabbed a belt and then sauntered up to the cash. The woman behind the cash gave her an instant one over, eyebrows raised in disbelief, but before she could even open her mouth Caroline was leaning towards her.

“You're going to take off the tags and the sensors and then you're going to give me the clothes as if I'd payed for them. And you're going to do it cheerfully. Then, once we're out of sight, you're going to forget all about this.” the woman instantly beamed, taking off the tags that would set off the alarms and cutting the price tags off. Then she cheerfully put the items in a bag and handed the bag to Caroline.

“Thank you for shopping with us.” she beamed, and Caroline smirked, turning back to see Sam gaping at the prices listed on the clothing. He looked at her in disbelief and she laughed.

“That is exactly why I said we weren't paying. Come on. I need more than just an outfit.” she led him through the mall to a lingerie store but left Sam outside this time, zipping in and returning moments later with another bag. Then she led him to a shoe store. “Last stop, I promise.” she told him, perusing the selections. “I need something cute but sturdy.” she told him, and he glanced around.

“What about-” he began, just as her eyes fell on a pair of knee high, black leather boots with the smallest of wedge heels.

“These. These are perfect.” she waved the store attendant over. “Size seven and a half.” she said, catching the attendants eyes, and Sam watched as the attendant stood caught as if mesmerized. “And that pair of socks right there. Untag them and box them up. They're on the house. Once we leave, you'll forget we were ever here.” Caroline said easily, and the attendant nodded, doing just as she'd said. When she was done, she gave the box to Caroline, who just ushered Sam out. “K. Time to change.” she headed straight for a bathroom, disappearing and reappearing in barely a minute, completely changed, Sam's shirt folded over her arm. Surprised by the transformation and unable to deny anymore that Caroline was definitely hot, he just cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair.

“You look good.” he said, and she grinned.

“Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.” That only seemed to make Sam more uncomfortable and Caroline's smile widened. “Come on, let's get back to Dean before he has a mental breakdown.” grateful for the change in subject, Sam nodded in agreement.

“Good idea. Next thing you know he'll have called Cas to help track us down.” he rolled his eyes at the thought before glancing back at Caroline. “Gotta say though, you're the easiest girl to shop with.” Caroline burst out laughing as she slid back into the impala.

“You say that now, wait till I go on a  _real_ shopping trip.”

They drove a while in silence before Caroline finally heaved a sigh, looking pointedly at Sam.

“Okay, what is it? I can practically feel all the questions I know you're just dying to ask, so ask them already!”

“What did you do to those store attendants?” Sam asked, and Caroline gave him a scandalized look.

“I didn't  _do_ anything to them. I just used compulsion.”

“Compulsion?” she looked at him sideways.

“You know, if I tell you all my little tricks, you're going to have the advantage.”

“You're afraid I'm going to use the knowledge against you.” he stated, not even bothering to pose such an obvious thing as a question. She nodded. “I suppose that's fair. But in reality, even knowing what you can do doesn't necessarily give us the upper hand. We are still human.”

Caroline barked out a laugh.

“You don't think I haven't heard of you? Sam and Dean Winchester? You guys have got a badass reputation in the supernatural world that rivals Stefan and Damon's in the vampire circles.  _Everyone_ has heard of you.”

“Stefan and Damon?”

“They've got the whole brother complex like you two, except they're a hell of a lot older.” Sam gave her a variation of the dirty look he'd given Dean earlier, but she just rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. You can't exactly deny it. We've all heard your story. Some of us have even read it.” she snickered. “You died, Dean sold his soul, Dean died, you tried and failed to sell your soul. You drank the demon blood and got all hot and heavy with that Ruby chick so you could beat Lillith and save your brother and all of the world. The two of you together ended up being gates to open Lucifers cage. You were both supposed to be vessels, you ended up saying yes but instead of bringing on apocalypse you willingly jumped into the fiery pits of hell to save your brother, and the rest of the world.” she glanced over at Sam who was looking torn between whether he wanted to be angry or just uncomfortable. “Then when you were finally saved from the lovely pits of your hell, you were soulless, Death gave your soul back – who actually sounds like a pretty cool guy if we're honest – and you were haunted by Lucifer even though he technically wasn't there. Gotta say though, I've seen something similar to that. When a vampire kills a hunter, that hunter haunts us basically until we go crazy, kill ourselves, or deal with it for so long that it eventually fades. Or have someone we love give us a reason to live.” she shrugged. “It's a complicated deal.” she chuckled again. “on a lighter note, especially if you read the books, which I haven't but now that I think about it my friend who has did mention a Cas, why haven't they just boned each other already and gotten it over with?”

Sam nearly choked, caught between complete surprise and laughter.

“Well.” he finally managed, tossing the smug Caroline a weary look. “When you say it like that...” he trailed off and she grinned once more as he pulled into the motel parking lot. As he parked, she reached out to grab his arm to slow him down, serious once more.

“Hey Sam?” he lifted a brow, waiting for her question. “We're going to actually be moving soon right, like travelling? You did say you'd help me find my friends, even if I can't go back to Mystic Falls. And you're pretty nice and all, but you're still hunters in the end, and it seems like Dean's just waiting for an opportunity to drive a stake through my chest.” Sam sighed, nodding her out of the car and so she climbed out, facing him over the roof.

“Yeah, once we pick a destination, we'll head out. I think Dean's going to want to call Cas though. Get some information.” he paused, looking back at her again. “By the way, you never specified, does your compulsion thing work only on humans?” Caroline shrugged.

“I've only ever used it on humans. Though I couldn't compel another vampire, if that's what you're asking. Witches usually protect themselves from it, and werewolves, well I've never been close enough to test it. I could ask Damon though. And well, as for other monsters or whatever, again, haven't really had the chance to try it. I can tell you for sure it doesn't work on Crowley though.” Though Caroline knew that could've just been the vervain. Sam nodded, looking thoughtful as he reached for the motel room key. As he moved away from the car, Caroline cocked her head to the side, listening, surprised to hear two heartbeats inside the room, and was that – groaning? With a grin, she snatched the key from Sam, unlocking the door and strutting right in.

“Okay, we're back so there's no need for you to go crazy hunter on us. Though I'm sure you heard the car.” her grin only widened at the sight of a flushed Dean pressed up again a black haired man with blue eyes that could rival Damon's pressed against the wall. Their lips were kiss swollen and Caroline was about to laugh when the dark haired man gasped, pushing Dean back.

“Dean – be careful! It's a demon!” he rushed her even as Dean shouted out for him to stop and Sam appeared behind her shouting the same thing. Before he was even close though she sped around him, leaping onto Dean's back as if he'd willingly offered her a piggy back, showing her teeth and poising them just beside Dean's neck. Cas spun around as Dean stumbled a step under the sudden weight and when Cas froze, she retracted the teeth.

“You must be Cas.” she said drily, still holding onto Dean. She could feel he was slightly annoyed by her choice of place to be, but he hooked his arms under her legs so she wouldn't fall. “For the record, I am not a demon. This is and always has been my body. I was born in this body, grew up in it, and turned in it. We don't possess people. I'm the exact same just with a few physical perks I suppose you could call them.” Cas had narrowed his eyes, but Sam had come forward to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder and the man straightened.

“I am Castiel. Angel of the Lord.”

“Yes, I've heard all about you.” she drawled with a cheeky smile, climbing down from Dean's back. She sped over but Castiel didn't even flinch. “I'm Caroline Forbes. I knew Sam and Dean when we were all teenagers. Well, Dean and I were teenagers. Sam was still a kid. I was still human back then.” she emphasized, offering her hand. He took it, albeit hesitantly. As soon as he took her hand though, he went from suspicious, to empathetic.

“I'm sorry for your loss.” Caroline felt herself go cold.

“Excuse me?”

“You were turned against your will and didn't even know vampires existed. I'm sorry. That must have been a traumatic experience.” Caroline was stiff, but she didn't pull away, just forced herself to relax.

“I think it turned out for the better, don't you?” she said softly, and Cas nodded.

“If you hadn't turned, you would've surely been killed.” she realized then that the brothers were both staring at them and rolled her eyes.

“What?” she demanded, irritated by the look Dean was giving her.

“Who did it? Who turned you?”

Caroline often tried to move past the event, often forgot it, but now, being asked like this, brought it all back.

“Her name was Katherine Pierce. Or Katerina Petrova depending on who you ask. She's hundreds of years older than me. She killed me to get at my friends. I don't know if she knew I had vampire blood in my system or if she just planned to kill me, but here I am.”

“Here you are. What are you doing here?” Castiel asked, and Caroline sighed, looking to the boys to answer that question.

“Crowley was torturing her. Trying to find out how to kill the originals of her kind. Seems to have a nasty bone to pick with a certain original; Niklaus?” Sam informed the angel, and his blue eyes bore into Caroline.

“I've heard of Niklaus, he's-”

“The second oldest original vampire. Yes. Most would say unbeatable.” Caroline cut in, and Castiel frowned at her but didn't finish his sentence.

“I heard that if you kill an original vampire of your race, every vampire in their line is killed as well. Is that true?” Castiel asked, and again both boys stared in surprise. Not wanting to lie to this being who clearly knew more than he was sharing, Caroline nodded.

“Yes, it's true.”

“And do you know which line you hail from?” Castiel asked, and this time Caroline shrugged.

“No idea. But rumour seems to be that it was Klaus.”

“So he's Klaus now?”

Caroline turned a look on Dean's skepticism.

“Everyone calls him Klaus, next time you run into some vampires, ask them. Just like everyone knows there were five originals; Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah, Finn, and Kol. They were the five originals, turned into vampires by their mother, a witch, to protect her children from the werewolves that had killed her youngest son, Henry, or Henric, or something like that.” she paused moving to lean against the table, arms crossed in front of her chest. “Story goes their father was turned too, but instead of feeding on humans, he only feeds on other vampires, and he roamed the earth searching for his children so that he can try and kill them because he believes they've turned into monsters. Of course, they're impossible to kill, so why Crowley thought he had such a chance, I don't know. But even if they could be killed, no vampire would give that information up because we'd be killing ourselves and our kin as well.”

Without warning, Cas launched himself at Caroline, only to have her zip across the room once more, but this time she didn't move near anyone, just to the opposite side of the room.

“Cas!” Dean shouted, trying to get between the angel and his target, and Caroline just lifted a brow.

“Pretty rude since I've been pretty forthcoming.” she chided, and Cas just looked sheepish.

“I just wanted to see your ring. I can feel the energy coming off of it.” Caroline lifted a brow in surprise.

“For future reference, asking to see it would be better than looking like you're trying to attack me.” again the angel looked sheepish and so she flashed over, offering her hand with the ring for inspection, not wanting to take the ring off. “It's a daylight ring.” she said, before he could ask, and he looked surprised, fingertips brushing it carefully.

“The witch who made this, she was very powerful.”

“She was a Bennett witch.” Caroline said proudly, and Castiel looked up at her.

“She's dead.”

Caroline nodded. “She died bringing a boy back to life. My friends brother. He's a hunter too, kind of ironic considering his sister is now a vampire, but anyways, he was killed by this immortal guy and Bonnie had kind of been in love with him, and without him, his sister Elena actually turned off her humanity, so Bonnie brought him back to life and it was good timing too cause it was right after Elena got her humanity back so it was nice. Mind you, she didn't tell us she was dead so we went nearly a year thinking she was actually alive and just travelling the world, because Jeremy can see ghosts so he used to email us for her and stuff.” she huffed out a breath, finding that all three men were staring at her once more. “What?” she demanded, and Dean chuckled.

“Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much, blondie?” she shot him a scathing look but didn't bother arguing with him.

“So what's the plan?” She asked instead. “You called the angel just like Sam said you would, so I figure that means you gotta have a plan.” she lifted a challenging brow and Dean just narrowed his eyes at her.

“There's a concentration of your kind in New Orleans. I thought there would be a good place to start.”

The thought of going to New Orleans, where  _he_ was supposed to be, had a rush of excitement going through her. Though she knew that Klaus was in fact with her friends looking for her, which sent another pleasant tingle through her. 

“Okay. New Orleans works for me.” she agreed casually, “But even though it is a good place to start, how do I get word to my friends that that's where we're headed? Because this running around is all well and good, but if we can't communicate a way to meet up, you just might be stuck with me forever and I know you don't want that.” she smirked, and Dean gave a sneer.

“Damn right we don't. You're cute little ass has gotten us in enough trouble as it is.” Caroline just wrinkled her nose at him but before either of them could make another jab at the other, Cas cut in.

“I could get a message to them. It would be easy for me to-”

“No.” Dean said sharply, and Cas frowned at him. Taking a step back so she stood beside Sam, Caroline smirked thinking this could be quite the show.

“Dean, it is the most reasonable course of action.”

“Cas, no! One of her little vamp friends-”

“I'm not afraid of a vampire, Dean.” Cas retorted in his even toned voice, and Caroline watched Dean practically grind his teeth.

“How about this.” Caroline cut in, understanding Dean's need to protect Cas but also wanting to get a message to her friends. “Cas takes a written note, tapes it to the front door, knocks and leaves before they've even had the chance to answer it. They'll see the note and Cas will be perfectly safe.”

“Although I do not see the need to be so overly cautious, Caroline's plan is a good one.”

“I agree, Dean. This way Cas won't run into any of the vamps, but Caroline will be able to return to her family. It's reasonable.” Dean glared at all three of them before spinning on his heels.

“Fine!” he barked, eyes narrowing at Caroline's smirk, “But I'm writing the note.” Caroline's eyes narrowed in turn.

“You're kidding right? God why are you such a control freak?” she demanded, and he just lifted a superior brow, clearly having won this round because nobody else was going to argue with him.

“Do you want to get back to your precious coven or not, blondie?” just to scare him, she bared his teeth at him, pleased when his eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise.

“It's not a coven. Or a nest. We're just friends who stick together in a tough world. You of all people should respect that.” then she decided that a jab was necessary. “Plus, I know you really just want me out of the way so you have more time to bone-” he pulled his gun out, pulling the trigger even as she flashed away, snickering. Sam cleared his throat, pulling a pad of paper out of his bag.

“Alright, lets write this note and get it over with. Then we'll grab a bite and hit the road.” he looked at everyone for an agreement and Caroline shrugged, giving a smile as she dropped onto a bed, grabbing the television remote, and Dean scowled at her. She just slid him a cool look when he continued to scowl in her direction.

“Well get to it. Write the note so we can go. Unless the truth is you really want to keep me around.” she gave him an innocent look and his scowl darkened as he snatched the paper out of Sam's hands.

“God damn blood sucker.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were some worries that Klaus would hurt Cas. Please don't worry - he was reacting out of anger and worry just like Dean was when he threatened to send Caroline back to Crowley. Likewise, neither would ever actually act on those threats. Klaus won't ever even come into contact with Cas, and would not even attempt to hurt him unless he was confident he would win (he's arrogant, not stupid). As that is the case, you can all rest assured that he will never even considering attacking the angel.
> 
> As for Crowley - because they are from completely different universes, while Crowley holds some standing in the Demon hierarchy which makes him near the top of the bad list, in the TVD universe, Klaus is at the top (or at least very close to it as well). Also keeping in mind that Crowley is a salesman. He climbed his way up the ladder, but he started out low. He has weaknesses and the Mikaelsons have always been good at exploiting them.


	9. Chapter 9

_Klaus_

 

The knock on the door came before the witch Lara had arrived and it was Damon who rushed to answer it only to find a piece of paper attached to the doorway and nobody around. In seconds he was calling out to the other occupants of the house.

“Hey guys, we got a note from the hunters.” he called, and in an instant the three other vampires were surrounding him.

“Well, what does it say?” Klaus demanded impatiently, and Damon rolled his eyes before he started reading.

“Dear blood suckers, we're taking blondie to New Orleans. Rumour has it your kind infested the area so we figure it's a good place to drop her off. Should be there in the next day or two. Be there.”

They all stood in silence for a moment before Elena broke the silence.

“Didn't you say his name was Dean Winchester?” she asked Klaus, who nodded, wondering where the brunette was going with this.

“There was a Dean Winchester who came to our school in high school, before all of this started up,” she said with a vague motion towards the three men. “He had a little brother, I think his name was Sam? And his dad, his name was John. And Dean drove this really great car – anyways they didn't stay long. Just a semester.”

“Where's this going, Elena?” Damon asked, nudging his girlfriend along, and she shook her head, still frowning.

“I don't know if it's the same one but, him and Caroline sort of had a thing. He was all ruggedly handsome and dangerous looking. Didn't really do well with rules. Pretty badass actually.” clearly unamused with her train of thought, all three men just stared at her, but to Klaus it was beginning to make sense. He hadn't understood why a hunter would save a tortured vampire, but could it be because they were an old flame? He didn't get a chance to comment on it however because Damon was speaking.

“Blondie. Only I get to call her that. Hunters.” he jeered. His brother rolled his eyes and Damon grabbed his coat. When nobody else moved, he looked around expectantly. “Well, are we going to New Orleans or not? I, for one, would like to see what the big deal is about these hunters.” he was out the door in seconds, Elena on his heels and Stefan following close behind. Klaus was left alone inside the house, mind spinning, wondering why they'd chosen New Orleans. Had it been Caroline's subtle idea? Or did the idea belong to the hunters? If so, why? Unable to find an answer standing inside the Salvatore mansion, he followed the rest outside, slamming the door behind him and taking the passenger seat. He smirked at the fact that nobody even considered making him sit in the back; authority was good.

“Take us to the airport, mate. We're flying back to New Orleans.”

 

It took them seven hours to get to New Orleans, and when they arrived Klaus welcomed them to the city as if it were completely under his control. Of course, the Mystic Falls trio had no doubt that such a thing could very well be true.

“What now? It's not like we can just wander the streets asking about a cute blonde.” Damon muttered, and Klaus gave him a look that told him silence was currently his best friend. Damon made a face but didn't speak.

“The hunters will be driving here. Chances are, they'll either send the angel, or allow Caroline to make another phone call. Do be sure not to miss it.” he said with that trademark smirk that said if they screwed up he would kill them in an extremely painful manner. Even as they each pulled out their phones to make sure they wouldn't miss a call, Elena's phone buzzed. All eyes turned to her and she flipped her phone open. It was a text and it read simply; 'call this number at 21:00 hours'. Klaus glanced at his watch and realized they had an hour to wait.

“Come on then, lets get a drink while we wait.”


	10. Chapter 10

_Caroline_

 

Caroline was getting impatient. She'd been sitting in the back of the impala for 9 hours at this point and she was bored out of her mind as she stared out the window at the night sky.

“Are we there yet?” she asked, knowing full well they weren't anywhere close, and Dean started cursing.

“Are you kidding me? God dammit, Caroline, if this is going to be you for the rest of the trip I swear to god I will kick your ass out on the road and you can walk the rest of the way.” she just rolled her eyes gave a loud sigh, leaning forward to lean between them, an arm on each seat.

“Don't you guys get bored on all these road trips? Just driving for hours? How do you stand it?” she asked, and Dean glanced at her out of the corner of his eye even as Sam tried not to smirk at her impatience.

“Music.” Dean said, and Caroline smiled as if excited.

“What kind of music?” Sam chuckled, knowing what was coming and Dean grinned like a child, excited. He dug into the armrest, grabbing a cassette tape and shoving it into the stereo. AC/DC blared from the speakers and Caroline stared wide eye for a moment. As if expecting her to hate it, Dean looked over with a smug grin, and Sam couldn't help but look over curiously. But even as they both glanced over, Caroline had gone from shocked to grinning, hair bouncing as she bounced to the beat. Surprised, Dean couldn't help but laugh while Sam just watched in surprise before laughing as well. It'd been the last reaction either of them had expected her to have. Even as Dean laughed, his eyes caught sight of a figure on the road and he was cursing, swerving to the side and slamming on the breaks. Even as they swerved, the figure disappeared and now Caroline was cursing as well.

“Hope you guys are ready for a fight, because we've got one coming.” In a flash she'd climbed over Sam's lap and out of the car, standing at the ready in front of the car, knees bent, arms hanging loose at her sides. Even as she stood there, a group of vamps approached from the trees lining the roads, and Sam and Dean scrambled out of the car, pulling out weapons.

“Anyone have an extra stake?” she asked, putting out a hand, and a stake was immediately placed in her hand. She grinned, feeling the expression stretch across her face. She'd been locked up in Crowley's house of horror unable to fight back, and here was her chance; to get rid of all that pent up anger.

“Well, hello Caroline.” came a smooth voice she didn't recognize, and she cocked her head to the side, unimpressed.

“And who are you supposed to be?” she asked, brushing off his existence easily. There were only eight opponents and she had no idea how old they were or if they were even all vampires, but that didn't mean she couldn't take them, especially with two professional hunters at her back. “Alright, you two know the drill, right? Stake to the heart is what kills them.”

The vampire she'd ignored bared his fangs in anger at being ignored.

“My name's Tyrell. Crowley sent me.”

“Is that so, guess we have to kill you then.” Dean said cheerfully from behind her, and when the vampire hissed again, she sped forward. With barely any effort she was behind him, snapping his neck and watching him fall to the ground.

“Pitiful.” she said, ramming the stake into his chest and yanking it out just to spin and stab it into the chest of the female vampire who'd tried to rush her from behind. “That coat was so last year.” she muttered, yanking the stake out. She was grabbed from behind and laughed, twisting her arms and then flipping backwards. She landed on the man's shoulder, snapping his neck with barely a thought. She didn't have time to drive the stake into his heart because she was already spinning, rolling back to land in a crouch as another vampire tackled her down. She'd shaken them in the role but now they were crouched across from her, veins around their eyes showing. “You know, you really should learn better self control.” she informed them, launching forward. Even as she jumped something hit her side and she felt the pain before she saw what had caused it. “Guys!” she practically screamed, as the needle pumped vervain into her system. The vampire facing her jumped, and she still managed to stake them and throw them off before she doubled over, dumping the needle on the ground. She looked around for the person with the gun even as another needle hit her. This time she screamed as the vervain injected itself, pulling the needle out again and tossing it down again. She dropped to her knees in pain and caught sight of the vampire with the gun. She could feel her appearance changing, the veins appearing, teeth sharpening in her mouth.

“Caroline! Are you alright?” Sam was shouting, but she was focused on the man holding the gun.

“I'm going to kill you.” she warned him, smile vicious as she sped across the space towards him. Her body was still burning from the vervain but she didn't care, even as another shot hit her. She realized now that this one wasn't a vampire, it was human, or at least it appeared human. It didn't take long for her to realize it was human and her grin became feral. She leapt on them before they could run, ignoring the burn of pain as she sank her fangs into their neck. They screamed in pain but she was latched on, leaning back to look briefly in the demons eyes. “You will not leave this body.” she ordered, and the man's eyes widened. She grinned, blood covering her mouth as she sank her fangs back into the man's neck, draining him dry. Then she snapped his neck, dropping the body as she licked her lips and picked up the gun. There was a few shots left and she spun, taking out the last vampire in sight. She dropped like a stone with one shot after which Sam staked her. They both turned to her and though Dean hesitated, Sam came right over, offering her a cloth.

“You okay?” he asked, looking at the body at her feet, and she nodded.

“This one's a demon. He was shooting me. It hurt.”

“The demon's still in the body?” he asked, and she nodded. “Seems like he was vervain free.” she didn't even miss a beat though she scolded herself for giving them the information.

“Vervain?” Sam asked, and she nodded.

“It's like poison to us. Hurts like a bitch. That's what these darts were filled with. That's why she fell when I shot her.” she was glad she'd taken it off track enough that she didn't have to admit it stopped compulsion.

“Yeah but Care,” he said, using the familiar form of her name and making her smile as she wiped the blood from her face, “How many times were you shot?”

“I was hit three times. I've built up a bit of a tolerance though.” she said it easily enough but the worry in Sam's face was heart-warming. He went to put a hand on her shoulder, but before he could Dean was shouting at them.

“Get down!” he shouted and Caroline tackled Sam to the ground without thinking, looking up in surprise as the vampire that had been right behind her was hit by a burst of wooden bullets. She back on her feet at super speed, pulling Sam with her before she rushed Dean, throwing her arms around him in a hug and smacking a kiss to his cheek.

“Thanks.” she heard his heart speed up and chuckled, wandering back over to Sam. “Sorry for the tackle.” she apologized, but he just gave her that same sheepish smile.

“Don't worry about it. I'd rather be tackled by you than have that vampire sink its teeth into my neck.” Caroline's smile just widened as she headed towards the car, tucking the stake into the inside of her coat. It was a handy weapon to hold on to.

“You guys coming or what? Also, you owe me a drink for taking more than half those suckers down.” before she reached the car she was grabbed, and she couldn't even react before her neck was snapped and everything went black. The last thing she remembered was hearing both the Winchester's calling her name.

 


	11. Chapter 11

_Klaus_

 

It wasn't even the designated time when Elena's phone was ringing and she answered it, setting it onto the middle of the table.

“Care?” she asked, anxious, and the voice that replied was the gruff male voice they'd heard earlier. This was Dean.

“Sorry sweetheart, I'm not Caroline.”

“And where, pray tell, is she?” Klaus demanded, voice dangerously smooth.

“You're the one who threatens everyone, so does that make Damon?” Dean's voice asked, and Damon himself laughed.

“Damon's the one who threatens everyone, is he?” the real Damon laughed, glancing at Elena who just rolled her eyes but smiled.

“That's what Caroline said. Stefan's the bunny eater, Damon's the one who threatens everyone, and Elena's the girlfriend. And something about a brother complex.” he grumbled, and Klaus knew exactly what Caroline had meant by it but he didn't have time to be amused.

“Where is she, Dean? Don't make me ask again.” he said softly, and there was a pause.

“That's the thing. We don't know. We were attacked by a bunch of vamps about three hours out and we'd pretty much killed all of them, well Caroline did, she's pretty badass, gotta say, and then when we thought they were all down this, well, I'm guessing it was another vamp cause it rushed out of nowhere, snapped her neck and then disappeared with her.”

“Are you telling me that after you made the decision to take the long route and not allow us to come and get her ourselves, she was taken from right under your nose?” Klaus was furious, hands gripped so tightly into fists that his knuckles were white.

“Listen here, you son of a bitch, unless you want to take the blame for not realizing that werewolf bastard had a loose screw and letting him chase her off in the first place, maybe you can just calm the hell down.”

“Boys.” Elena cut in, looking sharply at Klaus and the phone. “This is getting us nowhere. Do you know if the vampires were associated with Crowley?”

“There was a demon with them so yeah, and hell did Caroline do a number on him. Compelled him to stay in the body while she drained it then snapped his neck.

“Oooh, love it when blondie gets nasty.”

“And who are you again?” Came the unamused question, and Damon paused for thought.

“I'm the cute bunny eating one.” he said easily, earning a snort from Elena and a roll of the eyes from Stefan.

“Right,” Dean drawled, then he paused, pulling the phone from his ear. “Hey, Sammy! How's it going over there?” in response there was a gurgling sound followed by chanting. A few minutes later there was a scream, a rush of air, and then the second voice drew closer.

“Done. They were definitely Crowley's. Though it's kind of weird, don't you think? That he hired the same type of vampire to catch a vampire? I mean, if all he wanted was information, he could get that from anywhere.”

“Unless he knows Caroline has specific information he can't get elsewhere.” Klaus interjected from his end, and both men on the other end went silent.

“You seem to know an awful lot on the subject.” was the eventual reply, and Klaus smirked, all three of his companions recognizing it as dangerous.

“You have no idea, mate.” he paused, considering, before he spoke again. “You're going to tell us where you are. We're going to meet you there and then we are going to find Caroline. Is that understood?” it was clear that Dean was about to snap back when the sound of the phone being jostled met their ears and the voice of the other hunter rang through.

“Understood.” he gave the highway and how far they were from the next exit. “She disappeared within the last ten minutes. Don't know where they went but we're going to start looking. We'll see you when you get here.” the phone hung up and Klaus was immediately on his feet.

“Well then,” he clapped his hands together. “Shall we?”  


	12. Chapter 12

_Caroline_

 

Caroline came to with her neck and shoulders aching. Of course, the neck made sense since hers had been snapped shortly before, but the shoulders? She shifted, trying to release the tension only to find her wrists bound behind her back. It was then that she realized that she was moving, not being carried, or dragged or anything, but moving at a steady pace, the sound of an engine meeting her ears. It didn't take long to realize she was in the trunk of a car.

“Seriously.” she muttered, annoyed, and strained her wrists against the ropes. She hissed in pain as the vervain burned her skin but she didn't give in. She hadn't escaped and gotten 3/4 of the way to New Orleans just to give up. She pulled against the rope until she could feel that her skin had been burned away, and still didn't stop until she felt it snap. Her elbow banged into the roof of the trunk and she cursed but freed her wrists, feeling around the edge of the trunk for some sort of edge, or maybe a headlight. That was what they told you to do in case you were shoved in a trunk, wasn't it? Even as she started to push though the car pulled over and to a stop. Caroline went still, maneuvering her best so that she could leap out the instant the trunk opened. The instant the latch popped she was off, springing from the trunk and crashing into her kidnapper. They both hit the ground in a roll and Caroline was up first, landing on her feet in a crouch, fangs bared. She didn't recognize the vampire facing her but that didn't mean anything other than that this was a vampire and she needed to be ready. Before he could say anything she lunged, drawing them into a brief but painful fight. He managed to get a blow to her knee, kicking it in, and though she screamed in pain, she instantly snapped it back, willing it to heal faster but using it anyways, knowing she couldn't miss a beat. In retaliation, she managed to smash his shoulder in, and he howled in pain.

“Who are you?” she demanded when he tried to pull back but she just exerted pressure on the break, not letting go and not letting him up from where he was bent in front of her, arm bent back, pulling on the shattered joint.

“Chester.”

“Seriously?” she rolled her eyes. “Tough luck. Who are you working for? Why did you grab me?”

“He's working for me, darling.” she felt her whole body go stiff and without hesitation she pulled the stake from her coat and drove it through the man's back and into his heart. He collapsed, dead, and she turned to face the man of her nightmares.

“Crowley.” she greeted without emotion, stake still in her hand. She was afraid but she wouldn't let it show. No, she had friends, friends who were looking for her; she had Klaus looking for her. The thought nearly had her wanting to smile but she gave away nothing.

“Hullo, Caroline. Long time no see. Ready to come back now?” unconsciously she lowered her stance, teeth becoming bared. “Well then, guess we'll be doing this the hard way.” Caroline didn't react other than to eye the forests carefully. A dozen demons were approaching her, and with only a stake, she'd be in trouble. With a silent prayer to both her friends and the Winchesters, she hoped she'd be found soon.

 


	13. Chapter 13

_Dean_

 

The sound of a car drew the attention of both Winchesters and they both watched as three figures climbed out of the car. First out was a black haired, blue eyed guy with a chiselled face, next a girl with an adorable yet sexy face, long limbs, and flowing brown curls who Dean assumed was the girlfriend/best friend Elena. Last out of the car was another man with what Dean could only call 'perfect twilight hair' and the thought made him smirk.

“Alright, well I'm Damon, this is Elena, and that over there is Stefan.” Introduced, giving a no nonsense smile, and Dean frowned.

“Hold on a minute, if you're Damon, who was Mr. Accent on the phone?”

Damon chuckled, crossing his arms.

“Oh that? Yeah I guess we left that part out. That would be Klaus. You know, Nicklaus Mikaelson; the vampire your king of hell wants dead?” as if on cue, Klaus slipped out of the car, strolling forward as he took in their surroundings.

“Dean, Sam.” he greeted, deadly smirk back on his face. Sam and Dean exchanged glances, surprised by the turn of events.

“So you're Klaus.” Sam stated, and the original rolled his eyes.

“Yes.”

“The original vampire that Caroline claimed to know nothing about?”

Klaus' smirk reappeared, but it was deadlier than ever.

“Yes.”

Dean was watching the original carefully, and Elena stepped forward, between them, surprising everyone.

“Look, let's just get this out in the open. Caroline's in love with Klaus. She was going to find him and that's why Tyler chased her into Crowley.” Dean's gaze snapped to her in shock.

“Are you serious?”

“No, she's lying to you. Dumb ass.” Damon quipped, and Dean narrowed his eyes at Damon.

“Look pretty boy-”

“Ooo. Did you hear that, Stefan? I'm the pretty boy now.”

“Damon,” his brother tried to cut in, already resigned with where this was going, and his brother shrugged him off with a murderous grin.

“No, Stefan. I'd really like to hear what Dean has to say. I mean sure these two are supposed to be the best two hunters around, but if that were true, then where the hell is Caroline?” he shouted, and Elena was beside him in an instant, an arm hooking around his waist, anchoring him. He glanced down at her, clearly debating whether to stay or to rush the hunters, but something in her expression stilled him.

“Well. Now that the dramatics are out of the way,” Klaus began, drawing everyone's attention. “I'd like you to tell me everything you know about Crowley. If he does have Caroline again, there is no way I will let him live for having touched her.”

“Man you're a week late, dude. You should've seen the shape she was in when we found her. He'd done so much damage she had holes in her hand and was covered in burns for hours.” Elena gasped, the brothers shared a knowing glance, but Klaus just stood completely still, staring at the older hunter.

“Is this a game to you?” Klaus asked in a low voice, and Dean's lips twitched into a smile.

“Well, I don't know what you know about Crowley, Klaus,” he said the name as if he couldn't believe his own ears, “But he can't be killed. Trust me, we've tried. And so have hundreds of others. Hell, we even burned his bones. Nothing. He's invincible.”

“No one's invincible.”

“We've heard you are.” Klaus laughed.

“That's because I'm an original vampire, mate. Crowley's just a crossroads demon who crawled his way up the ladder. I'm centuries older than him, I have a few tricks up my sleeves that fragile humans like yourselves couldn't possibly understand.” Dean looked about ready to attack when Sam grabbed his arm.

“We should head out. I'm worried about Caroline. If this was Crowley, he'll either already have her, or be trying to get her back right this instant, so we need to move if we want to have any chance at finding her before he can start torturing her again.” he seemed to wince at the memory and that was enough for the others.

“Let's get on with it then, shall we? Mind if I ride with you boys?” Klaus asked with a smirk, and Sam nodded, having a few questions of his own he wanted to ask.

“Sounds good to me.” Sam agreed, already heading for the impala, and though Dean frowned, he didn't argue. Even he had to agree that the sooner they found Caroline the better. In fact, he had a few choice words he wanted to share with her.


	14. Chapter 14

_Caroline_

 

Caroline was starting to tire. She'd taken out half the demons, compelling them to stay in their bodies and then killing them, and two others had escaped. That left her with only four and Crowley, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to take Crowley by herself, and the closer she got to him, the more afraid she was. He seemed to be standing back watching in what looked like fascination, and it half made Caroline want to wring his stupid neck, but she knew to get that close was to get caught. They'd tried to use holy bullets on her, but they did nothing more than regular bullets and for that she was semi grateful. If they'd had wooden bullets she would've been in much more trouble. Of course, she noticed that if _they_ touched the bullets they were burned, and she'd been quick to steal a gun. She only had two shots left and wondered briefly if she should save them for Crowley. All four of her opponents had guns though, and they were circling her warily. One pulled the trigger and she moved, moving behind her and shoving her towards one of her companions and following the motion, shifting around her when more shots rang out, making it so they hit each other. She was left with only the last two, catching up the guns the first two demons had released in their fall. Gun in each hand she aimed easily, pulling both triggers at the same time. She was turning even as they dropped, aiming the guns at Crowley, but he was no longer where she'd seen him.

“Very good.” he complimented from directly behind her, and she spun, even as she was hit with a needle of vervain. She hissed in pain, dropping a gun to pull the shot out of her neck.

“Bastard.” she snapped, moving a fair distance away, but he just chuckled.

“Where did you learn how to fight like that?” he asked, staying where he was, and in a blink she'd aimed and fired. The bullet missed since he was no longer there and she moved instantly, grateful she had when he appeared directly by where she'd been standing.

“From fighting scum like you.” she snarled, and he chuckled again.

“I doubt you've ever fought anyone like me, darling.” she grimaced.

“I'm not your darling. I'm not your anything. I won't go back with you.” her thoughts were short circuiting now. She knew she couldn't run, he could follow with what seemed barely a thought and she stood no chance on her own. She also knew she couldn't go back.

“You will come back with me.” she couldn't help the undignified squeak as his voice sounded right behind her and another shot of vervain had her on her knees, choking on her pain. “Because I want you to, and I always get what I want.” She began to stand and he just sighed. “You really are too stubborn for your own good, Caroline. If you just listened and answered my questions in the first place, none of this would have happened.” another syringe jabbed into her skin and she gave a breathless scream, vision swimming with pain. It was then that she felt the rumble, through the palms of her hand as a car roared down the highway. A car she recognized. The recognition had hope shooting through her and she was on her feet again, spinning with her gun, firing off shots in rapid succession. She fired until both guns were empty, and when Crowley reappeared a few meters away, she was gratified to see the smoking hole in his shoulder.

“This was a very expensive suit, darling.” he sighed, irritation flashing in his soulless dark eyes, and Caroline cringed. She rushed another weapon, but even as she reached it she was sent flying with a kick in the side, rolling across the pavement. Her arm snapped and she screamed, but she struggled up, grinding her teeth as she quickly set it, turning back to her opponent. He was nowhere to be seen until two more syringes pierced her skin and her consciousness spun with the pain this time. This time she couldn't catch herself as she fell, collapsing at Crowley's feet. She heard two things at once as her eyes slipped closed; the sound of the impala's engine and _his_ voice calling her name.

“Klaus,” she managed to whisper, and then everything went black.

 


	15. Chapter 15

_Klaus_

 

They came over the rise and the scene was impossible to miss. Bodies were scattered across the pavement, but most importantly, Caroline was right there, standing facing their direction, eyes blind as Crowley pulled the needles from her neck, dropping the empty injections. Caroline collapsed as if boneless, sightless eyes sliding closed.

“Caroline!” he roared, tearing out of the car, and Crowley's head snapped up at Klaus' voice.

“Klaus,” her voice was hardly a pained whisper, but it still met his ears, and he stalked forward, pace disconcertingly slow.

“So you're Niklaus Mikaelson. One of the original vampires.” Crowley drawled, clearly curious, but also completely at ease, obviously confident. Klaus planned on changing that.

“I am. And you're Crowley, crossroads demon promoted to King of Hell.” he stopped a few meters away, never looking directly at Caroline, but even as he stared solely at Crowley and listened to the Winchester's cursing and rushing out of the car, he still managed to focus mostly on Caroline. “Funny thing, that.” Klaus continued, trademark smirk gracing his lips. “While you may be more powerful compared to the other demons, and certainly to humans, you hold no power over me.”

“You're a vampire.” Crowley drawled, shrugging. “Isn't hard to figure out how you work.”

“Ah,” he reached into his pocket, fingering the trinket he'd been sure to retrieve from his home when they'd been in New Orleans. “That's the interesting thing, isn't it? I'm a vampire, but I'm original. All of your information has come from torturing _babies_.” he snarled, and deftly pulled the trinket from his pocket. Sam and Dean were approaching, and the car with the Salvatore's and Elena was just pulling up. In seconds he was flanked by them as well. “The problem with that is, this particular vampire you've been torturing holds particular importance to me.”

“Funny, she seemed to be sure she wasn't even sure if you existed.”

“Funny how you think I care in the slightest about what you have to say.”

He glanced back at the Winchester's and nodded. They'd made the plan on the way and it wasn't the least bit clean, but if done well, should work.

“Interesting fact about your mum being a witch,” Klaus noted, rushing forward to grab hold of Crowley, speaking the words in his ear. As he tried to escape the body Klaus put his hand over his mouth, the devils traps inscribed there keeping him trapped. “It means that if you were returned to your witch status, you'd be killable. And do you know where witches go?”

“Nowhere, they die like the rest.” Crowley was struggling now as the Winchester's began to chant.

“That's where you're wrong, mate. They do go somewhere. They go into a void. Neither here nor there, trapped as if on the other side of a curtain, completely ignored, powerless, alone.” The demon was shaking in his arms, power clear as his very essence fought the spell the Winchester's were chanting. At Klaus' nod, Stefan moved in a flash, disappearing and reappearing where he'd been, the second time with Caroline in his arms.

“If you were an angel, or one of the horsemen, or perhaps even one of the knights, this would be different. But you're not. You are _nothing_. That you hoped to find and defeat me is laughable. That you hurt someone I care about, unthinkable, and you will pay for it with your death.” the Demon struggled harder, managing to break away from Klaus in a moment of strength, but he was quickly shoved back towards the original by Damon, who wore that dangerous smirk that promised death.

“I am the king of hell!” Crowley shouted, even as the Winchester's finished their chant. “I will be back and when I am I assure you-” he felt the sudden strip away of his powers, leaving him feel vulnerable like a child. “I will destroy you.” he threatened, but Klaus just snorted, flashing around to face the once-demon-now-witch, and shoving his hand into the man's chest.

“If you do come back, it will be an impressive enough feat that you may deserve to kill us. Until then, you're lucky I have a stronger desire to see her safe than to torture you. You'd be very surprised that there are actually a few tricks I know for _sure_ you haven't heard of.” Crowley was gasping and wincing and without further ado, Klaus yanked his hand back, Crowley's heart beating twice in his hand before going still. The body collapsed and Klaus tossed the heart down a few feet away. Reaching down, he pulled Crowley's handkerchief from his pocket, using it to wipe the dead man's blood from his fingers as he approached where Stefan stood with Caroline in his arms.

“She's been heavily dosed.” Stefan noted, and Elena frowned.

“How much do you think?”

“She was hit by three of these before,” Sam noted, lifting one of the syringes off the ground, “And it didn't take her down. So it would have to be more than that.”

“Five, by the looks of it.” Damon cut in, eyes moving from the surrounding scene to the surrounding beings. “There are five syringes including that one.” all the vampires flinched at the thought and it told both hunters that even for a vampire Caroline had shown some serious steel but continuing on how she had.

“Is he actually dead?” Dean asked, pointing over his shoulder at Crowley's body, “Seemed a bit too easy.”

Klaus just shrugged. “That's because it was. He isn't dead. But this,” he tossed down what was in his hand, letting it fall beside the body, “Will put enough fear in him to stop him from attacking her again.” Before Dean could get a good look at whatever it was Klaus was waving them back towards the cars.

“Come on then, we don't want to be here when he manages to revive himself. I expect it to be messy.” The brothers exchanged glances but didn't bother arguing when the other vampires left it alone.

“Where are we headed?”

“Back to New Orleans.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't kill Crowley or actually turn him into a full witch - he's still a demon. Niklaus isn't powerful enough to make any such changes, they just tricked/surprised him. Power of surprise and all that.


	16. Chapter 16

_Caroline_

 

The first thing Caroline felt was pain. She remembered being caught, and the idea that she was Crowley's prisoner again sent fear coursing through her, a whimper leaving her lips at the thought of more pain. She couldn't handle more pain. She couldn't. In her barely conscious state, she didn't hear the familiar voice giving a warning not to touch her, only felt the touch that in her frantic thoughts would be followed by pain. She lashed out, grabbing the hand and twisting hard and fast, listening to the bone shatter. Her eyes were hardly open but they were unseeing as she scrambled away from the one who'd touched her. It hadn't registered that she wasn't imprisoned, only that she should be back in Crowley's torture room. A shape came towards her and she sprang forward, long legs wrapping around their torso and hands flashing to snap the neck of her attacker, but before she could get that far she was yanked off from behind, strong arms banding around her from behind. She thrashed in their hold, trying to break free, furious and terrified, and that's when she heard his voice.

“Shush, Caroline, love. You're alright. You're safe. I've got you.” she went still at his voice, unable to believe it was possible that she was really safe in his arms. She closed her eyes, trying to focus her senses. There were the heartbeats, not the near silence of Crowley's dead one, but half a dozen heartbeats besides her own. She recognized Sam's and Dean's human smell then, and the smell of Elena's perfume, Stefan's cologne, and the leather smell that always clung to Damon. And then there was the familiar, intoxicating musk that was Klaus, surrounding her. She felt the tears before she could stop them, dripping down her cheeks, and she was afraid to open her eyes, afraid her senses were betraying her, and afraid to open her eyes and find them all gone.

“Klaus?” her voice was so soft even the vampires had trouble hearing her, but Klaus just nodded, loosening his hold on her and turning her around. Her eyes were still closed and he lifted a hand to wipe the tears from her cheek.

“I'm right here, love. Open your eyes.” Slowly, carefully, Caroline opened her eyes, and found herself staring into Klaus blue ones. She let out a shuddering breath, and unable to help herself she threw her arms around him, holding him tight, unable to help the sobs that wracked her frame. Though she'd surprised him with the embrace, he held her easily, running a hand over her messy curls.

“I thought – I thought –” she stumbled over her words, face pressed into his shoulder, and his hold on her just tightened.

“You're safe now, love.” he repeated, wondering when it had become acceptable to show weakness in front of others, but it didn't matter, not when this was what she needed. Then she was pulling back all too soon, giving him a small smile before turning to the others. Elena rushed her immediately and Caroline gave a teary laugh, clinging tightly to her best friend.

“It's so good to see you.” Elena breathed, holding Caroline tight, and she nodded.

“You have no idea.” she murmured, and Elena just squeezed tighter. She looked up from her best friends shoulder and met Stefan's gaze, smiling at him before turning her gaze towards Damon who stepped closer, running a hand down her back.

“Gotta say, it is good to see you, blondie. Hunters give me the heebie jeebies.” Caroline snickered at that, noticing the roll of Sam's eyes and Dean's unamused glare.

“These ones aren't so bad.” Caroline supplied, finally letting go of Elena to move and hug Stefan. He was also her best friend in a way Elena couldn't be.

“Never thought I'd hear you say a nice thing about a hunter.” he teased, and she rolled her eyes.

“Please, I say nice things about Jeremy all the time. It's just the psychotic ones I don't like.”

“Sure these ones don't fit the bill?” Asked Damon, and she laughed before Dean could snap back, moving over to swing an arm around each of their waists, laying her head against Sam's shoulder. He was the more comforting one after all.

“Nah, they're okay. Bit grumpy, but good all the same.” she stepped away, and though she didn't look at him, they all noticed how she gravitated back towards Klaus, something he was immensely pleased about. “Thank you.” she said then, speaking to the hunters, and Dean just waved it off while Sam ran an awkward hand through his hair, giving her a nod and an odd smile.

“No problem. We've got to-” he waved towards the door and Caroline realized they were in a bedroom, one she didn't recognize.

“Where are we?” she asked, looking to Klaus, and she was right to assume he knew the answer.

“This is my home, love.” though it surprised her at first, she eventually smiled and gave a nod. Then she made a quick move back towards the hunters, giving them each a peck on the cheek. Then she tossed Dean a wink.

“You can pass my thanks to Cas.” his face grew red and he was quick to drag Sam out of the room, leaving only the vampires. This time Caroline stayed near the door, eyes darting over the other four occupants.

“Hey Klaus, what does a guy have to do to get a drink around here?” Damon drawled, noticing Caroline's expression.

“Visit the kitchen, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.” he provided, and with a pointed look at the other two, Damon left the room, the other two on his heels. Elena squeezed Caroline's hand as she passed and Stefan patted her shoulder before they disappeared, leaving her alone with Klaus.

“This isn't how I planned to see you again.” she blurted out, and then winced at how it sounded. Klaus, on the other hand, was smiling. Not a smirk like she remembered, but one of the few genuine smiles that had always been reserved for her.

“How did you plan it then, love?” he asked, and she shrugged, embarrassed now.

“I'm not really sure.” she admitted, “I hadn't really thought much beyond the plane. But it wasn't like this.” she waved around and then her arms moved to wrap protectively around herself, as if she were still afraid. He flashed over and his suspicion was confirmed, she'd gone stock still, though at least she hadn't flinched. Moving slowly now, he lifted a hand to her cheek, bringing her gaze to meet his own.

“I am glad you're here.” he told her sincerely, and was gratified to see the very sweet, very Caroline smile grace her features. She leaned into his touch then, eyes closing just for a moment.

“Me too.” then she opened her eyes, the blue clouded as she met his gaze once more, questions clearly brimming on her tongue.

“You've never been afraid to speak your mind before,” Klaus noted, and was gifted with another very Caroline smirk this time. He was glad to see he could still recognize her expressions so easily.

“That's not true,” she said easily, “I was afraid to say a lot of things.” she admitted, but they both knew that wasn't what was on her mind, not yet anyways. “How did you find me?” she finally asked, and he sighed, thumb brushing across her cheek before he stepped back.

“Are you sure you wish to know, love?” he asked, and she nodded.

“I am.”

“We questioned Tyler. Then you called. You know what happened after that.”

Caroline had gone absolutely still, eyes never leaving Klaus, but he knew what questions would come next.

“And Tyler?”

“Would you be angry with me for killing him when he chased you knowingly to such a fate as Crowley?” Klaus asked angrily, expecting an accusation. Caroline flinched but gave none.

“No, I'm not angry that you killed him.” she said honestly, and Klaus looked over in surprise. Though he _knew_ she'd been leaving Mystic Falls to see him, something in him always expected her to choose Tyler.

“If not angry, then what?” he couldn't help but ask, and she sighed.

“Disappointed I guess.” she answered, and watched as Klaus' expression went blank.

“Ah, I see. Sorry to disappoint you, love.”

Caroline just shook her head.

“Don't be such an idiot. I'm not disappointed in you. I'm disappointed he died before I could get to him.” there was an anger in her Klaus had never seen before, and though he was glad it wasn't aimed at him, he didn't like to think she had faced a pain great enough to bring forth such rage. “He deserved something a lot worse than what he probably got, knowing your temper.” it was said with a soft smile this time, the rage softening, and for some reason, he knew it was to soothe him when he knew it wasn't he who needed soothing but her.

“You would have regretted it,” Klaus told her, remembering how she'd looked after having murdering those witches in order to save the Bennet witch, but she shrugged again.

“Maybe, maybe not. But it would have been satisfying in the moment.” she was growing angry again, closing her eyes as if to push it back. When she opened her eyes again they were just tired and sad. “I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear about him.” she apologized, and he just stared at her, only realizing he was staring when she fidgeted. Now appearing nervous, she spoke again. “Is it okay?” she asked, and he cocked a questioning brow. “That I'm here.” she clarified. “It wasn't exactly expected and I wasn't invited. I just showed up – or well you were dragged into a search for me?” she waved it off, “Either way, is it okay? That I'm here?” she repeated, nervous once more, and he laughed this time, a full bodied laugh at how ridiculous the baby vampire was. Did she think he would go to such lengths to save just anyone? Did she not realize how important she was?

“Well I suppose it will depend, love.” her eyes widened in surprise, her nerves clearly growing worse.

“On?”

“Why you're here in the first place.”

“Because you're here.” she blurted out, before turning away in embarrassment. “I decided to travel.” she corrected, embarrassed, “New Orleans was just my first stop.” she felt the rush of air as he came up behind her, pulling her hair back over her shoulder to bare her throat, gently pressing his lips to her pulse in a way that had her shiver.

“Do you think, perhaps, I could convince you to stay?” he murmured against her skin, and she leaned into him, thrilled when his arms came around her.

“That depends.” she said, and he chuckled against her skin.

“On?”

she smiled at the mirrored bit of conversation.

“On why you want me to stay.”

“I think you know the answer to that, love.” came the soft reply, and she felt her smile grow.

“You promised me that you'd show me the world,” she reminded him, voice just as quiet as his had been. “And I want to see it, but-” she broke off, gathering her nerves, and he prodded her on.

“But?”

“Only if I can see it with you.” before she realized what he was doing he'd spun her around and he was kissing her as if she was air and he was a drowning man. He stopped only when the salty taste of her tears met his lips. He released her almost immediately.

“I apologize, love,” he said, almost frantic, never before had he felt so foolish and not only weak willed but panic filled; worried he'd hurt her, a rare worry he held.

“No, no it's not you,” she reached for him and he complied immediately, worried even as she hooked her arms around him to keep him in place and leaned her forehead against his. “I was so afraid I wouldn't see you again before I died.” she broke off when her voice wavered, swallowing before she continued. “I was afraid I would never know what it was like to stand here, with you. Like this.” he just kissed her forehead, keeping his arms around her.

“I will _never_ allow such a thing to happen to you again.” he vowed, and she shuddered in his arms before finally relaxing, giving him a smile and wiping away the last of her tears.

“I know.” her smile widened, gaze dropping to his mouth. “Now, where were we?” he laughed at her eagerness but complied readily. Who was he to deny her what she wished? He would be a fool to do so when he'd wanted just this for so long, and he was no fool.


	17. Chapter 17

_Dean_

 

“Do you think we'll ever see her again?” Sam asked, and Dean glanced away from the road to look over at his brother. They'd left New Orleans behind already but only just and it wasn't hard to see where his brothers mind was.

“I hope not,” Dean grumbled, though they both knew it wasn't true, “Damn vampire was a pain in my ass.” Sam just snorted out a laugh.

“You only say that cause she caught you and Cas in a compromising position.”

Dean scrunched up his face in disbelief. “Compromising posi- are you kidding me, Sammy?” he demanded, and that only made Sam laugh harder. “yeah, keep laughing. You'll be laughing all the way back to the big bad originals front door to tell them you volunteered to be breakfast.” he caught Sam's eye roll from the corner of his eye and smirked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

“You didn't answer my question, Dean.” Sam noted, and Dean just heaved a sigh.

“We just got rid of the blood sucker. You could at least be a little relieved we aren't travelling around with a monster who wants to drain us dry anymore.”

“Caroline had no interest in 'draining us dry'.” Sam reprimanded, clearly wanting an answer, and Dean just let out a huff.

“Come on man, I don't know. Maybe we will, maybe we won't.” Sam glanced out the window, clearly lost in thought. When he finally spoke, it sounded almost wistful.

“I hope we do.”

Dean just stared a moment before giving his customary snort of disbelief.

“This coming from the dude who didn't want any monsters within a hundred feet of him.”

“Yeah, well people change, Dean.”

Dean just rolled his eyes, but he wouldn't say he wasn't happy about the thought. He remembered what Sam had been like with Benny, and it was nice to see that Sam had gotten over that particular prejudice. He wondered if it was because she'd been human not so long ago, but he didn't want to jinx it by asking.

“Chances are, we'll cross paths again. Blondie liked you, and it certainly isn't a bad to have an original vampire on hand.” Sam smirked but didn't respond, still looking out the window. In truth, Dean _did_ think they'd cross paths again. It was a small world after all, and hell if Caroline hadn't presented them with a challenge. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he hoped they'd run into each other again too. It had proved an interesting few days, and hell, they were always up for some excitement. Sam's phone rang in that instant, and he answered it easily.

“Hey Bobby, what have you got?” and just like that, they were back to how they'd always been.


End file.
